CO=Security: Interview with Janelle Hsia for the week of 10/04/2020

Colorado = Security interviewed Janelle Hsia, founder of Privacy SWAN Consulting.

Janelle began her career in technology but has also done training for HR systems, worked in accounting, consulted for small businesses just getting off the ground and run security projects for the federal government. One of her pivotal jobs was working on contracts, compliance and security for a midsize SaaS company, in which she implemented their HIPAA program, did contract management and became their “go-to” person for daunting projects nobody else wanted to assume. The company’s clients in turn began to rely on Janelle to provide them with answers for their security questions, which re-ignited her interest in consulting.

The passing of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), a European Union initiative which aims to put control of data back into consumers’ hands, both within the EU and abroad, provided the impetus for companies here to implement legally compliant privacy and security protocols. It also prompted Janelle to dive back into data privacy consulting. In 2019, she “found her security voice” after working on data security for a number of businesses. She noticed that whatever privacy issues she found with her clients, she was able to provide a solution and tell them they could now “Sleep Well At Night.” From there, Privacy SWAN Consulting was born.

When discussing data privacy and security issues with her clients, she makes it personal, reminding them that this data could be their mother’s, daughter’s or other family member’s data in jeopardy. In closing, Janelle remarked that many companies don’t have any privacy/security protocols at all in place, and are unaware that the technology actually exists which both collects data and protects privacy.

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