A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a systematic evaluation of how a proposed project, system, or process will affect the privacy of individuals whose personal data is collected, used, or disclosed. PIAs identify privacy risks early in the design phase and recommend mitigations before systems go live, serving as both a governance tool and a regulatory compliance mechanism.
The PIA process begins with scoping -- identifying what personal data will be collected, from whom, and for what purpose. Analysts map data flows from collection through processing, storage, sharing, and eventual deletion. Each flow is evaluated against applicable privacy principles: necessity, proportionality, purpose limitation, data minimization, accuracy, storage limitation, and security. Risk scoring considers the likelihood and severity of privacy harms including unauthorized access, function creep, re-identification, and discriminatory profiling. Mitigations are proposed for each identified risk, ranging from technical controls like encryption and access restrictions to procedural safeguards like consent mechanisms and retention limits. The completed PIA is reviewed by privacy officers, legal counsel, and business stakeholders before project approval.
PIAs transform privacy from a reactive compliance exercise into a proactive design discipline. Many regulations mandate PIAs for high-risk processing activities -- GDPR Article 35 requires Data Protection Impact Assessments for processing likely to result in high risk to individuals. US federal agencies require PIAs under the E-Government Act of 2002. Beyond compliance, PIAs reduce costly late-stage redesigns by identifying privacy issues when changes are inexpensive. Organizations that skip PIAs routinely discover privacy defects post-launch, resulting in regulatory scrutiny, user backlash, and expensive remediation.
CDA integrates PIA methodology into the Data Protection and Sovereignty domain within C-RECON and C-BUILD campaigns. Our missions provide structured PIA templates, risk scoring frameworks, and stakeholder review workflows that embed privacy assessment into every project lifecycle phase.