Most of us have had the experience. We’re driving along on a sunny day, perhaps listening to a news broadcast or favorite song on the radio, and a seemingly effortless commute ends in a fender-bender, flat tire or full-scale accident—often with little or no warning.

The same is true in the privacy profession—where, without the right tools in place, a privacy issue can come up that your organization is not prepared to handle.

In advance of this month's Canada Privacy Symposium,  Saskatchewan Cancer Agency Privacy Officer Kristan Cook takes the driving analogy a step further in this free-for-IAPP-members web conference, Defensive Driving: How To Keep PIAs on the Road, which uses the analogy of being on the road for hours without going anywhere fast to illustrate privacy impact assessment (PIA) processes that aren’t working and how to improve them.

This web conference recording previews a larger session she’ll be hosting at the event later this month. While Cook’s Symposium presentation will include interactive elements and more details, the recorded program—eligible for CPE credit—provides a taste of what you’ll learn there at Symposium in programs like Cook’s session.

Cook explains how to avoid PIA-related crashes by identifying who should be driving your PIA process and who should travel with you as well as the road to take.

“Too often, a privacy department will get involved in a PIA only after it’s commanded to do a PIA,” Cook explains in the web conference recording.

Cook highlights a variety of key points, including:

• Your PIA must have a focus.
• Information flow is the heart of the PIA.
• Make decisions about the PIA’s scope, and demonstrate why the specific scope was selected.
• Setting up your team and selecting each member is an extremely important part of the PIA process.

The PIA, she notes, “belongs to your organizations. It shows the privacy risks your organization is facing and how you’ll manage that risk.”

For all the details, access the link to Cook’s web conference here, and for the full the schedule of events or to register for the IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium, check out the event page here.