Partner Insights: Data privacy and security advice from Polsinelli’s Lisa Acevedo

We caught up with Lisa Acevedo, the chair of Polsinelli’s health information privacy and security team and a startup mentor, to discuss the data privacy and security basics every startup should know.

What’s the most common misunderstanding startups have about data privacy and security regulations?

“They underestimate how heavily regulated personal data is.”

What’s the most common mistake startups make in terms of data privacy and security regulations?

“Not taking the time to put a robust privacy and security program into place…And then they end up having data breaches.”

What’s your most important piece of advice for an early stage startup?

“There’s this concept of privacy by design. The idea is that — early on — to consider all of the different potential risks to data, to the individual whose data they might be collecting, and then to make sure that they’re considering what privacy controls and what security controls [they] need to build in.”