Cookies crumble and websites need wrangling so don’t be complacent about your consent management.
Developing your website
It’s an all too common scenario that we’ve seen time and time again. Companies hire professionals to design and develop their website. A wonderful website launches, and then, after launch day, there’s simply no support or maintenance. Your beloved, dependable service provider is either leaving you on read, or simply not available. At best, your team is equipped to merely update the website content, but backend maintenance, and ensuring that data compliance and cybersecurity measures are operational and up to date, are far beyond your capabilities.
Complacency around consent
An uncomfortable example of complacency around consent management emerged in February 2020, where a mission-critical WordPress cookie, depended upon by more than 700 thousand websites across the world to manage consent in alignment with the GDPR, turned dysfunctional. In an effort to solve the distressing concerns, the developer team behind the cookie released a series of patches and fixes that would, once again, secure the websites. To the untrained eye, that seems to fix the problem, but we know there’s a critical touchpoint that hasn’t been catered for: nobody is able to apply the fix or patch to specific websites. And, if your web developer has left, moved on, or is simply no longer working with you, your business could be in big trouble.
Don’t leave consent management to the developer
Complacency around consent management can, ultimately, cripple your business operations, and it could be as simple as a broken cookie on your website. Or, it could be an unexpected oversight by a member of your team, who simply forgot to check that box, or secure that service with a strong password. Data protection and cybersecurity policies and procedures are essential components of your business operations, but implementation and adherence are mission-critical moments. That’s why we recommend:
- Building relationships: Working closely with your development studio to ensure there is a seamless handover of all necessary information, both during and beyond the website development process.
Equipping your team: Ensuring your team is well-versed in website management and updates. Training programmes, certifications, or one-on-one training are essential. - Ensuring longevity: Securing the relationship between your suppliers and team members. Website maintenance is not a once-off process, and neither is your business journey.
- Creating a hand-over file: Your website hand-over file must include all information related to your website, its cookies, applications, backend services, and further important information. Make sure your hand-over file and web development process is fully documented, so that anyone in your team can pick it up as a project they need to take care of, in an emergency.
- Pay your bills: Ensuring your payments to service providers happen timeously and efficiently is essential. Follow up to make sure your payments are being correctly received and processed, as this helps to ensure your website remains live and well-maintained.
- Check your compliance: No matter what applications, services, cookies, or programmes your website uses, there is no replacement for supervision. Complacency can be a business killer, so regular checks, audits, and revisions to your data processing policies are a must.
What’s your online business and website’s health rating, and do you think it’ll fare under an audit? That’s where ProPrivacy can help. Check out Serity, and our range of data compliance and cybersecurity programmes. We’re here to help!
Philipa is the lead consultant and auditor at ProPrivacy. With clients as far afield as Canada, South Africa, Kenya, Germany, Spain and other such exotic locations, besides Cork and elsewhere in Ireland, Philipa enjoys a broad view of the state of data protection, privacy and cyber security worldwide. Philipa’s passion is manageable data compliance for SMEs.
Philipa is a qualified teacher besides holding a computer science (Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence Programming) and electronic and intellectual property law (LLB) qualified. She is trained in constitutional (fundamental) rights litigation and enjoys a good debate.
Philipa has over twenty years of experience working in different sized organisations and sectors on operational, governance, risk management and compliance matters. She is an analytical and focused person that enjoys a challenge in the workplace. She loves technology, systems and people and has a passion for showing people how technology can make life easier and better. She understands that the world is driven by data today but privacy is paramount. Responsibly developed AI excites Philipa for the future.