IAPP CIPP-E Exam
Certified Information Privacy Professional/Europe (CIPP/E) (Page 8 )

Updated On: 1-Feb-2026

SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Joe started the Gummy Bear Company in 2000 from his home in Vermont, US

  1. Today, it is a multi-billion-dollar candy company operating in every continent. All of the company's IT servers are located in Vermont. This year Joe hires his son Ben to join the company and head up Project Big, which is a major marketing strategy to triple gross revenue in just 5 years. Ben graduated with a PhD in computer software from a top university. Ben decided to join his father's company, but is also secretly working on launching a new global online dating website company called Ben Knows Best.
    Ben is aware that the Gummy Bear Company has millions of customers and believes that many of them might also be interested in finding their perfect match. For Project Big, Ben redesigns the company's online web portal and requires customers in the European Union and elsewhere to provide additional personal information in order to remain a customer. Project Ben begins collecting data about customers' philosophical beliefs, political opinions and marital status.
    If a customer identifies as single, Ben then copies all of that customer's personal data onto a separate database for Ben Knows Best. Ben believes that he is not doing anything wrong, because he explicitly asks each customer to give their consent by requiring them to check a box before accepting their information. As Project Big is an important project, the company also hires a first year college student named Sam, who is studying computer science to help Ben out.
    Ben calls out and Sam comes across the Ben Knows Best database. Sam is planning on going to
    Ireland over Spring Beak with 10 of his friends, so he copies all of the customer information of people that reside in Ireland so that he and his friends can contact people when they are in Ireland.
    Joe also hires his best friend's daughter, Alice, who just graduated from law school in the U.S., to be the company's new General Counsel. Alice has heard about the GDPR, so she does some research on it. Alice approaches Joe and informs him that she has drafted up Binding Corporate Rules for everyone in the company to follow, as it is important for the company to have in place a legal mechanism to transfer data internally from the company's operations in the European Union to the
  2. S.
    Joe believes that Alice is doing a great job, and informs her that she will also be in-charge of handling a major lawsuit that has been brought against the company in federal court in the U.S. To prepare for the lawsuit, Alice instructs the company's IT department to make copies of the computer hard drives from the entire global sales team, including the European Union, and send everything to her so that she can review everyone's information. Alice believes that Joe will be happy that she did the first level review, as it will save the company a lot of money that would otherwise be paid to its outside law firm.
    As a result of Sam's actions, the Gummy Bear Company potentially violated Articles 33 and 34 of the GDPR and will be required to do what?
  3. Notify its Data Protection Authority about the data breach.
  4. Analyze and evaluate the liability for customers in Ireland.
  5. Analyze and evaluate all of its breach notification obligations.
  6. Notify all of its customers that reside in the European Union.

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

According to Articles 33 and 34 of the GDPR, the Gummy Bear Company potentially violated its breach notification obligations by allowing Sam to copy and use the personal data of its customers in Ireland without their consent or authorization. A personal data breach is defined as a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed (Article 4(12)). The Gummy Bear Company, as a data controller, is required to notify the competent supervisory authority of the personal data breach without undue delay and, where feasible, not later than 72 hours after having become aware of it, unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons (Article 33(1)). The notification should include the nature of the personal data breach, the categories and approximate number of data subjects and personal data records concerned, the likely consequences of the personal data breach, and the measures taken or proposed to address the personal data breach (Article 33(3)). The Gummy Bear Company is also required to communicate the personal data breach to the affected data subjects without undue delay, if the personal data breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons (Article 34(1)). The communication should describe the nature of the personal data breach and the measures taken or proposed to address the personal data breach (Article 34(2)). Therefore, the Gummy Bear Company should analyze and evaluate all of its breach notification obligations, taking into account the nature and circumstances of the personal data breach, the type and sensitivity of the personal data involved, the potential impact and harm to the data subjects, and the applicable laws and regulations of the jurisdictions where the data subjects reside. The Gummy Bear Company should also document the personal data breach and the remedial actions taken, and cooperate with the supervisory authorities and the data subjects as required by the GDPR.


Reference:

GDPR, Articles 4(12), 33, 341; EDPB Guidelines 01/2021 on Examples regarding Data

Breach Notification2



SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Joe started the Gummy Bear Company in 2000 from his home in Vermont, US

  1. Today, it is a multi-billion-dollar candy company operating in every continent. All of the company's IT servers are located in Vermont. This year Joe hires his son Ben to join the company and head up Project Big, which is a major marketing strategy to triple gross revenue in just 5 years. Ben graduated with a PhD in computer software from a top university. Ben decided to join his father's company, but is also secretly working on launching a new global online dating website company called Ben Knows Best.
    Ben is aware that the Gummy Bear Company has millions of customers and believes that many of them might also be interested in finding their perfect match. For Project Big, Ben redesigns the company's online web portal and requires customers in the European Union and elsewhere to provide additional personal information in order to remain a customer. Project Ben begins collecting data about customers' philosophical beliefs, political opinions and marital status.
    If a customer identifies as single, Ben then copies all of that customer's personal data onto a separate database for Ben Knows Best. Ben believes that he is not doing anything wrong, because he explicitly asks each customer to give their consent by requiring them to check a box before accepting their information. As Project Big is an important project, the company also hires a first year college student named Sam, who is studying computer science to help Ben out.

    Ben calls out and Sam comes across the Ben Knows Best database. Sam is planning on going to Ireland over Spring Beak with 10 of his friends, so he copies all of the customer information of people that reside in Ireland so that he and his friends can contact people when they are in Ireland.
    Joe also hires his best friend's daughter, Alice, who just graduated from law school in the U.S., to be the company's new General Counsel. Alice has heard about the GDPR, so she does some research on it. Alice approaches Joe and informs him that she has drafted up Binding Corporate Rules for everyone in the company to follow, as it is important for the company to have in place a legal mechanism to transfer data internally from the company's operations in the European Union to the
  2. S.
    Joe believes that Alice is doing a great job, and informs her that she will also be in-charge of handling a major lawsuit that has been brought against the company in federal court in the U.S. To prepare for the lawsuit, Alice instructs the company's IT department to make copies of the computer hard drives from the entire global sales team, including the European Union, and send everything to her so that she can review everyone's information. Alice believes that Joe will be happy that she did the first level review, as it will save the company a lot of money that would otherwise be paid to its outside law firm.
    In preparing the company for its impending lawsuit, Alice's instruction to the company's IT Department violated Article 5 of the GDPR because the company failed to first do what?
  3. Send out consent forms to all of its employees.
  4. Minimize the amount of data collected for the lawsuit.
  5. Inform all of its employees about the lawsuit.
  6. Encrypt the data from all of its employees.

Answer(s): B



SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next question:
Joe started the Gummy Bear Company in 2000 from his home in Vermont, US

  1. Today, it is a multi-billion-dollar candy company operating in every continent. All of the company's IT servers are located in Vermont. This year Joe hires his son Ben to join the company and head up Project Big, which is a major marketing strategy to triple gross revenue in just 5 years. Ben graduated with a PhD in computer software from a top university. Ben decided to join his father's company, but is also secretly working on launching a new global online dating website company called Ben Knows Best.
    Ben is aware that the Gummy Bear Company has millions of customers and believes that many of them might also be interested in finding their perfect match. For Project Big, Ben redesigns the company's online web portal and requires customers in the European Union and elsewhere to provide additional personal information in order to remain a customer. Project Ben begins collecting data about customers' philosophical beliefs, political opinions and marital status.
    If a customer identifies as single, Ben then copies all of that customer's personal data onto a separate database for Ben Knows Best. Ben believes that he is not doing anything wrong, because he explicitly asks each customer to give their consent by requiring them to check a box before accepting their information. As Project Big is an important project, the company also hires a first year college student named Sam, who is studying computer science to help Ben out.
    Ben calls out and Sam comes across the Ben Knows Best database. Sam is planning on going to Ireland over Spring Beak with 10 of his friends, so he copies all of the customer information of people that reside in Ireland so that he and his friends can contact people when they are in Ireland.
    Joe also hires his best friend's daughter, Alice, who just graduated from law school in the U.S., to be the company's new General Counsel. Alice has heard about the GDPR, so she does some research on it. Alice approaches Joe and informs him that she has drafted up Binding Corporate Rules for everyone in the company to follow, as it is important for the company to have in place a legal mechanism to transfer data internally from the company's operations in the European Union to the
  2. S.
    Joe believes that Alice is doing a great job, and informs her that she will also be in-charge of handling a major lawsuit that has been brought against the company in federal court in the U.S. To prepare for the lawsuit, Alice instructs the company's IT department to make copies of the computer hard drives from the entire global sales team, including the European Union, and send everything to her so that she can review everyone's information. Alice believes that Joe will be happy that she did the first level review, as it will save the company a lot of money that would otherwise be paid to its outside law firm.
    When Ben had the company collect additional data from its customers, the most serious violation of the GDPR occurred because the processing of the data created what?
  3. An information security risk by copying the data into a new database.
  4. A potential legal liability and financial exposure from its customers.
  5. A significant risk to the customers' fundamental rights and freedoms.
  6. A significant risk due to the lack of an informed consent mechanism.

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

According to the GDPR, personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject. The GDPR also recognizes that the processing of special categories of personal data, such as data revealing political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or data concerning health or sex life, may entail a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons. Therefore, such data can only be processed under certain conditions, such as when the data subject has given explicit consent, or when the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.
In this scenario, Ben had the company collect additional data from its customers, including their philosophical beliefs, political opinions and marital status, without a valid legal basis or a legitimate purpose. He also copied the data of the single customers onto a separate database for his own online dating website, without informing them or obtaining their consent. This processing of special categories of personal data created a significant risk to the customers' fundamental rights and freedoms, such as their right to privacy, dignity, non-discrimination and self-determination. The customers may also suffer from identity theft, fraud, harassment, or unwanted marketing as a result of the unauthorized use of their data. Therefore, Ben's actions constituted the most serious violation of the GDPR in this scenario.


Reference:

Art. 5 GDPR ­ Principles relating to processing of personal data Recital 51 GDPR ­ Protecting sensitive personal data
Art. 9 GDPR ­ Processing of special categories of personal data [Guidelines 3/2019 on processing of personal data through video devices] I hope this helps you understand the GDPR and data processing better. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.



Bioface is a company based in the United States. It has no servers, personnel or assets in the European Union. By collecting photographs from social media and other web-based services, such as newspapers and blogs, it uses machine learning to develop a facial recognition algorithm. The algorithm identifies individuals in photographs who are not in its data set based the algorithm and its existing data. The service collects photographs of data subjects in the European Union and will identify them if presented with their photographs. Bioface offers its service to government agencies and companies in the United States and Canada, but not to those in the European Union. Bioface does not offer the service to individuals.
Why is Bioface subject to the territorial scope of the General Data Protection Regulation?

  1. It collects data from European Union websites, which constitutes an establishment in the European Union.
  2. It offers services in the European Union by identifying data subjects in the European Union.
  3. It collects data from subjects and uses it for automated processing.
  4. It monitors the behavior of data subjects in the European Union.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

According to the GDPR, the territorial scope of the regulation applies to the processing of personal data of data subjects who are in the Union by a controller or processor not established in the Union, where the processing activities are related to: (a) the offering of goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the Union; or (b) the monitoring of their behavior as far as their behavior takes place within the Union. In this scenario, Bioface is not established in the Union, but it is collecting photographs of data subjects in the Union and using a facial recognition algorithm to identify them. This constitutes monitoring of their behavior within the Union, and therefore triggers the application of the GDPR. The other options are not correct because: (A) Bioface does not have any establishment in the Union, as it only collects data from web-based services, which does not imply the existence of stable arrangements in the Union2; (B) Bioface is not offering services in the Union, as it only targets government agencies and companies in the US and Canada, and does not intend to provide its service to data subjects in the Union3; © Bioface collects data from subjects and uses it for automated processing, but this is not a sufficient criterion to determine the territorial scope of the GDPR, as it does not relate to the offering of goods or services or the monitoring of behavior in the Union.


Reference:

1: Article 3(2) of the GDPR; 2: EDPB Guidelines, paragraph 20; 3: EDPB Guidelines, paragraph 38; 4: EDPB Guidelines, paragraph 50.



A company in France suffers a robbery over the weekend owing to a faulty alarm system.
When it is determined that the break-in involves the loss of a substantial amount of data, the company decides on a CCTV system to monitor for future incidents. Company technicians install cameras in the entrance of the building, hallways and offices. Footage is recorded continuously, and is monitored by the home office in the United States.
What is the most realistic step the company could take to address their security concerns and comply with the personal data processing principles set out in Article 5 of the GDPR?

  1. Seek informed consent from company employees.
  2. Have cameras recording during work hours only.
  3. Retain captured footage for no more than 30 days.
  4. Restrict camera placement to building entrances only.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

According to Article 5 of the GDPR, personal data must be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures (`integrity and confidentiality')1. The company's decision to install cameras in the entrance of the building, hallways and offices may violate this principle, as it may expose the personal data of the employees and visitors to unnecessary risks, such as hacking, misuse or disclosure. Moreover, the company must also comply with the other principles of data processing, such as lawfulness, fairness and transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy and storage limitation. The company must have a legitimate and specific purpose for installing the cameras, and must inform the data subjects about the processing of their personal data. The company must also ensure that the cameras collect only the minimum amount of data necessary for the purpose, and that the data are accurate and kept for no longer than necessary. The company must also respect the rights and freedoms of the data subjects, and provide them with the means to exercise their rights, such as the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, object or port. The most realistic step the company could take to address their security concerns and comply with the personal data processing principles set out in Article 5 of the GDPR is to restrict the camera placement to building entrances only. This would limit the scope and impact of the data processing, and reduce the risks to the personal data of the employees and visitors. The company would still need to inform the data subjects about the processing, and ensure that the footage is securely stored and transferred, especially if it is monitored by the home office in the United States, which is a third country that may not offer adequate protection for personal data. The company would also need to consider the possibility of obtaining the consent of the data subjects, or relying on another legal basis for the processing, such as the legitimate interests of the company or the performance of a contract.


Reference:

Article 5 of the GDPR
[Article 12-23 of the GDPR]
[Article 44-50 of the GDPR]
[Article 6 of the GDPR]



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