A Glossary of CRM Security & Compliance for Keap Users

In today’s data-driven world, especially within the sensitive realms of HR and recruiting, understanding CRM security and compliance isn’t just good practice—it’s essential for protecting both your candidates’ and employees’ data and your organization’s reputation. For Keap users, navigating these waters requires clear definitions and practical applications. This glossary provides HR and recruiting professionals with a foundational understanding of key terms related to data protection, privacy, and regulatory adherence, ensuring your Keap CRM environment remains secure and compliant with evolving standards.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any data that can be used to identify a specific individual. This includes direct identifiers like names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and email addresses, as well as indirect identifiers like date of birth, place of birth, and mother’s maiden name, when combined with other data. In HR and recruiting, PII encompasses nearly all candidate and employee data stored in Keap, from resumes and contact details to compensation information. Proper handling of PII is paramount for legal compliance and maintaining trust. Automating data capture into Keap must include strict validation and secure storage protocols to prevent unauthorized access or accidental exposure.

Sensitive Personal Data (SPD)

Sensitive Personal Data (SPD), often a subset of PII, includes categories of data that warrant extra protection due to their potential for misuse or discrimination. Examples include racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, and data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation. For HR and recruiting professionals, collecting and storing SPD in Keap (e.g., medical leave details, diversity metrics) requires explicit consent and robust security measures far beyond standard PII. Automation workflows must be designed to minimize collection of SPD unless absolutely necessary, and to ensure it is handled with the highest level of encryption and access control.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive data privacy law enacted by the European Union, impacting any organization that processes the personal data of EU residents, regardless of the organization’s location. GDPR mandates strict requirements for data collection, storage, processing, and consent, granting individuals significant rights over their data. For HR and recruiting teams using Keap, this means ensuring transparent consent mechanisms for candidate data, providing mechanisms for data access/deletion requests, and documenting data processing activities. Non-compliance can lead to severe fines, making it crucial for automation strategies to incorporate GDPR-compliant data flows and record-keeping.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) / California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), significantly expanded by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), grants California residents specific rights regarding their personal information. Similar to GDPR, it requires businesses to inform consumers about data collection, allow them to opt-out of data sales, and request access to or deletion of their data. For HR and recruiting, CCPA/CPRA applies to employee and candidate data of California residents. Organizations using Keap must ensure their data handling practices, particularly in automated outreach and record-keeping, respect these rights. This involves clear privacy policies, accessible data request portals, and careful management of how personal data is shared with third-party vendors.

Data Encryption

Data encryption is the process of converting information into a coded format to prevent unauthorized access. It involves algorithms that scramble data, making it unreadable without a decryption key. In the context of CRM security, encryption is vital for protecting PII and SPD both “in transit” (when data moves between systems, e.g., from a web form to Keap) and “at rest” (when data is stored in Keap’s databases or backups). For HR and recruiting, ensuring that Keap’s connections (APIs, integrations) and any external data storage solutions utilize strong encryption is fundamental to safeguarding sensitive applicant and employee information from breaches and maintaining compliance.

Access Control

Access control refers to security measures that regulate who can view, edit, or delete information within a system. It ensures that only authorized users or systems can interact with specific data or functionalities. In Keap, this typically involves setting up user permissions, roles, and profiles, granting varying levels of access to different team members based on their job functions (e.g., a recruiter might see candidate profiles, but only HR leadership can access sensitive compensation data). Implementing robust access control is critical for preventing internal data breaches and maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive HR and recruiting information, especially when automating data flows.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a security enhancement that requires users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to an account. Instead of just a password, MFA might also require a code from a mobile app, a fingerprint, or a physical token. For Keap users, particularly in HR and recruiting where sensitive PII and SPD are handled daily, enabling MFA for all user accounts significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access due to compromised passwords. It adds a crucial layer of defense, making it much harder for malicious actors to penetrate your Keap CRM and access valuable candidate or employee data.

Data Breach

A data breach is a security incident where sensitive, protected, or confidential data is accessed, copied, transmitted, stolen, or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. For HR and recruiting professionals, a data breach involving candidate resumes, employee records, or personal communications within Keap can have severe consequences, including reputational damage, legal liabilities, regulatory fines, and loss of trust. Proactive measures such as strong passwords, MFA, regular security audits, and a well-defined incident response plan are essential to prevent and mitigate the impact of potential data breaches in your CRM environment.

Compliance Audit

A compliance audit is an independent review to determine whether an organization is adhering to applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies related to data handling and security. For HR and recruiting teams, regular compliance audits of your Keap usage (and integrated systems) can assess adherence to GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA (if applicable to employee health data), and internal data governance standards. These audits help identify vulnerabilities, ensure proper data processing, and verify that consent mechanisms and data retention policies are correctly implemented. They are crucial for proactively addressing potential legal and regulatory risks before they escalate.

Data Minimization

Data minimization is a core principle in data privacy, advocating that organizations should only collect and retain the minimum amount of personal data necessary to achieve a specific purpose. For HR and recruiting using Keap, this means re-evaluating what information is truly required from applicants, employees, or contractors. Instead of collecting every possible detail upfront, only gather data essential for the current stage of the hiring or employment process. Implementing data minimization in your Keap forms and automation workflows reduces your risk exposure and simplifies compliance efforts, as there’s less sensitive data to protect and manage.

Data Retention Policy

A data retention policy outlines how long an organization should keep different types of data, specifying destruction methods and timelines. In HR and recruiting, this policy dictates how long candidate applications, employee records, and related communications are stored in Keap and integrated systems. It must balance legal and regulatory requirements (e.g., equal employment opportunity laws may require retaining applicant data for a certain period) with privacy principles (not holding onto data indefinitely). Automating data archiving or deletion processes within Keap based on this policy is critical for compliance and reducing the accumulation of unnecessary, high-risk data.

Incident Response Plan (IRP)

An Incident Response Plan (IRP) is a documented set of procedures for how an organization will prepare for, detect, contain, eradicate, recover from, and learn from cybersecurity incidents, such as data breaches or system compromises. For HR and recruiting teams managing sensitive data in Keap, a robust IRP is indispensable. It outlines who to contact, what steps to take immediately following a suspected breach (e.g., isolating systems, notifying stakeholders), and how to communicate with affected individuals and regulatory bodies. Having a clear plan minimizes damage, ensures regulatory compliance, and accelerates recovery, protecting both data and reputation.

Vendor Security Assessment

A vendor security assessment is the process of evaluating the security posture and data handling practices of third-party service providers, such as CRM platforms (like Keap) or integrated tools. For HR and recruiting, this involves scrutinizing how vendors protect the sensitive data they process on your behalf. Questions might include their encryption standards, access controls, compliance certifications (e.g., ISO 27001), incident response capabilities, and data breach notification policies. Conducting thorough vendor security assessments ensures that your entire data ecosystem, including all tools connected to Keap via automation, meets your organization’s security and compliance standards, mitigating supply chain risks.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a method of restricting system access to authorized users based on their role within the organization. Instead of granting individual permissions to each user, permissions are assigned to specific roles (e.g., “Recruiting Manager,” “HR Assistant,” “Administrator”), and users are then assigned to one or more roles. In Keap, RBAC ensures that HR and recruiting professionals only have access to the data and functionalities relevant to their job responsibilities. This significantly reduces the risk of accidental data exposure or unauthorized data manipulation, enhancing the security and integrity of sensitive candidate and employee information within the CRM.

Consent Management

Consent management refers to the process of obtaining, recording, and managing individuals’ permissions for the collection, processing, and use of their personal data. For HR and recruiting, particularly under regulations like GDPR and CCPA, obtaining explicit and informed consent from candidates and employees for storing and processing their PII and SPD in Keap is crucial. This involves clearly stating what data is collected, why it’s collected, and how it will be used, and providing an easy mechanism for individuals to grant, withdraw, or modify their consent. Automation workflows can be instrumental in documenting consent at various stages, ensuring compliance and transparency.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: CRM-Backup: The Ultimate Keap Data Protection for HR & Recruiting