A new handbook, launched this week to mark International Data Privacy Day 28 Jan., aims to give privacy professionals a concise overview of what they need to implement a robust privacy management program.

Offering a "how to" guide to all the components necessary to manage privacy within an organization, The Privacy Officer’s Handbook looks to help privacy offices identify and mitigate privacy risks, as well as offer advice for privacy management programs.

Anna Johnston, director of Salinger Privacy and lead author of the book, told The Privacy Advisor, “We wanted to distill some of our expertise into a single guide. Pulling together all the strands of privacy management can be difficult for even the most experienced privacy professional, but for those new to the field, it can seem an impossible task."

Johnston continued: “In recent years, we have been receiving more and more enquiries from start-ups, especially in the emerging tech sectors like data analytics and IoT–clients who intuitively know they need to get privacy right, but who don’t know where or how to start going about it. We developed this new handbook to help privacy professionals map out their own work plan, by identifying the broad scope of what is needed, suggesting priority areas to focus on, and including some tips on particular risks to look out for.”

Johnston also noted the GDPR is an obvious trigger for offering the book, but even more immediately, a new notifiable data breaches scheme starts in Australia in February. “We have developed some commercially available tools to prepare our clients for NDB, like a template Data Breach Response Plan," Johnston pointed out, “but we’re offering the handbook itself as a free resource.”

While written from an Australian perspective, Johnston said the handbook offers a useful overview for privacy professionals and advisers in any jurisdiction.