TOOLS AND TRACKERS

Defining Privacy Engineering

This resource, developed by the IAPP Privacy Engineering Section Advisory Board and part of the Privacy Engineering Domains series, provides a broad definition of privacy engineering.


Published: 1 June 2023

Last updated: 21 July 2025

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This resource provides a broad definition of privacy engineering and highlights various domains in which privacy engineers can significantly impact the protection of privacy.

Privacy engineering is the act of applying systematic, scientific or methodological approaches to include requirements for privacy* in the design, development, and operations of systems and services through various domains, such as software development, system design, data science, physical architecture, process design, information technology infrastructure and human-computer interaction/user experience design.

The privacy engineering domain examples and quotes within this resource are exemplary for work in each domain and are not representative definitions.

This resource is part of a wider IAPP series on Privacy Engineering Domains, which facilitates a deeper understanding of and collaboration within the increasingly important field of privacy engineering.

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This content is eligible for Continuing Professional Education credits. Please self-submit according to CPE policy guidelines.

Submit for CPEs


Tags:

Data securityPrivacy engineeringRisk managementTechnologyPrivacy
TOOLS AND TRACKERS

Defining Privacy Engineering

This resource, developed by the IAPP Privacy Engineering Section Advisory Board and part of the Privacy Engineering Domains series, provides a broad definition of privacy engineering.

Published: 1 June 2023

Last updated: 21 July 2025

View PDF


This resource provides a broad definition of privacy engineering and highlights various domains in which privacy engineers can significantly impact the protection of privacy.

Privacy engineering is the act of applying systematic, scientific or methodological approaches to include requirements for privacy* in the design, development, and operations of systems and services through various domains, such as software development, system design, data science, physical architecture, process design, information technology infrastructure and human-computer interaction/user experience design.

The privacy engineering domain examples and quotes within this resource are exemplary for work in each domain and are not representative definitions.

This resource is part of a wider IAPP series on Privacy Engineering Domains, which facilitates a deeper understanding of and collaboration within the increasingly important field of privacy engineering.

CPE credit badge

This content is eligible for Continuing Professional Education credits. Please self-submit according to CPE policy guidelines.

Submit for CPEs

Tags:

Data securityPrivacy engineeringRisk managementTechnologyPrivacy

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