92% of consumers are concerned about privacy and 89% avoid doing business with companies they don't trust.*
Your website is often the first chance you will have to make an impression with your customers. Assure customers they can trust you with their data when they visit your website by demonstrating you respect their privacy and that your data privacy management practices are up to a vigorous set of standards with TRUSTed Websites.
- Improve Compliance - Reduce the legal risks associated with meeting complex data privacy management requirements
- Protect Brand - Protect your brand from negative media coverage due to privacy issues
- Build Trust - Build trust with users, clients, business partners, and regulators by demonstrating your commitment to protecting customer data
- Maximize Resources - Save time and expense associated with hiring extra legal and operations resources to assess and manage your privacy practices
TRUSTed Websites privacy certifications follow a comprehensive and proven multi-step process to ensure your privacy practices meet applicable regulatory and industry standards.
TRUSTed Websites privacy certifications begin with a review of your data privacy management practices for each website you want to certify. We work with you to identify a range of information including what data you collect, how you use it, who you share it with, third party agreements, use of trackers, privacy disclosures, opt-outs, and much more. We also review your stated privacy practices and policies. The TRUSTe team uses a combination of methodologies including a manual evaluation of your privacy practices by our team of privacy analysts, company interviews and on-site engagements, and digital property scanning tools.
TRUSTe will apply our proprietary scanning technology to the applicable websites providing comprehensive insight into the variety of data collection activities happening throughout your site and apps. The scan will uncover what could take dozens to hundreds of hours to accomplish manually with internal resources. You’ll find the first and third party trackers with detailed information about them including identity, location, type of tracker and URL. The scan will also shed light into the tracking technologies used, and the entire chain of tracker source (“daisy chain”). You will also get a scoring and evaluation of third party tracker severity, using a proprietary algorithm that calculates its Privacy Sensitivity Index (PSI). It will also provide insights into personally identifiable information (PII) data collection.
We present you with a Privacy Findings Report summarizing a gap analysis between your privacy practices and the TRUSTed Websites Privacy Program Requirements along with the changes you need to make to your data privacy management practices and privacy policies to achieve certification. Our Privacy Program Requirements are built upon the core principles of transparency, choice and accountability and they provide a comprehensive set of requirements based on applicable privacy regulations, industry self-regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.
We validate that your new website privacy statement accurately reflects your privacy practices and is consistent with our Privacy Program Requirements.
Once we validate that you've implemented the changes outlined in the Privacy Findings Report, you get access to the TRUSTed Websites Privacy Seal. The seal is recognized globally as a high standard for privacy management and displayed on thousands of websites and apps. You can display the seal both on your privacy statement as well as in other prominent places like your website home page and site footer to demonstrate your commitment to privacy. The seal is hosted by TRUSTe and linked to a TRUSTe Validation Page to provide real-time verification that your website certification is current and valid.
Once certification is complete, you can request a letter of attestation that your company is a TRUSTe client that has undergone a review and alignment with TRUSTe's privacy program requirements. This attestation can be shared with your business partners as part of RFPs and other process reviews, providing competitive differentiation.
TRUSTe also offers a third-party dispute resolution service, which helps you efficiently manage privacy inquiries from customers. It also addresses the dispute handling requirements for regulatory programs like the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework.
The Data Tracker Scanning technology used in your initial certification is used periodically to help you monitor the ongoing privacy risk for your certified websites. TRUSTed Websites Monitoring Service can also include validation checks to alert you when something unexpected appears or if when needed content or functionality are not found.
TRUSTed Websites also provides you with access to ongoing privacy guidance as it relates to your TRUSTe certification, including new regulations, product plans, geographic expansion, and acquisitions. You’ll get access to TRUSTe Privacy Solutions experts along with Educational Webinars, Seminars, White Papers, and Research Reports.
TRUSTed Websites Privacy Certification is part of our Data Privacy Management (DPM) Service solutions which include assessments and a wide range of certifications. DPM Services are managed by a team of TRUSTe privacy experts who combine 15+ years of expertise, a proven methodology and the power of our industry leading DPM platform to deliver solutions to you.
The DPM Platform is our comprehensive, SaaS-based technology solution which is available stand-alone and also used by TRUSTe to deliver our DPM Services.
For more information, visit TRUSTe Data Privacy Management Platform.