Privacy Program Foundations

What you will be able to do

• Define core privacy terms and explain how privacy differs from information security using real-world examples
• Use the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) to assess how an organization handles personal data
• Tell personal data, PII, PHI, and special-category data apart, and spot when data is genuinely de-identified
• Trace personal data across its lifecycle and draft a basic data inventory or record of processing (RoPA)
• Explain Privacy by Design and by Default and suggest data-minimization improvements to a process
• Summarize the scope, core rights, and key obligations of GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and HIPAA
• Identify which regulator enforces each major law, from EU data protection authorities to the California CPPA and HHS OCR
• Speak the working language of a privacy team and contribute to a privacy program from your first week

What is inside

4 modules, 8 lessons. Each module ends in a graded quiz and most carry an assignment.

1. 01

   Privacy Foundations & Vocabulary

   Build the conceptual and vocabulary foundation every privacy program rests on. You will learn what information privacy actually protects and how it differs from security, recognize the real-world harms privacy prevents, and master the Fair Information Practice Principles along with the core roles you will use daily as a Privacy Analyst: data subject, controller, and processor.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

2. 02

   Knowing the Data: PII, PHI & Special Categories

   Not all data carries the same risk. This module trains you to recognize personal data and PII, tell direct identifiers from quasi-identifiers, distinguish pseudonymized data from truly anonymized data, and classify the sensitive tiers regulators watch most closely: PHI under HIPAA and special categories under GDPR Article 9. You finish able to classify a real dataset the way an auditor would.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment

3. 03

   Data Lifecycle, Mapping & Privacy by Design

   Privacy work follows the data. This module traces personal information across its full lifecycle, shows you how to build a basic data map and a Record of Processing Activities (RoPA), and explains how Privacy by Design, Privacy by Default, and data minimization bake protection into systems and processes from the start.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

4. 04

   The Legal Landscape: GDPR, CCPA/CPRA & HIPAA

   US and EU regulators have given privacy real force of law. This module builds a working command of the three regimes a Privacy Analyst meets most: the EU's GDPR, California's CCPA/CPRA, and the US health-privacy law HIPAA. You will learn what each covers, who it applies to, the rights it grants individuals, and which authority enforces it, so you can look at a data flow and know which rules apply and who is watching.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment