Security Measures for Personal Information

Quebec Law 25 section 10 security measures require organizations to take necessary technical, physical, and administrative steps to ensure the protection of personal information throughout its lifecycle (collection, use, communication, keeping, and destruction). These measures must be objectively reasonable given the specific context of the data being handled.

Reasonable security safeguards are assessed based on a combination of factors explicitly listed in the legislation: the sensitivity of the information, the purposes for its use, the quantity of data, its distribution, and the medium on which it is stored. Organizations must conduct risk assessments to determine what constitutes a reasonable level of protection for their environment.

Under Law 25 safeguards based on sensitivity of personal information, data is considered sensitive if, due to its medical, biometric, or otherwise intimate nature, or the context of its use or communication, it entails a high level of reasonable expectation of privacy. Organizations must classify this data and apply stricter safeguards.

While the specific text of Section 10 does not strictly mandate the word encryption, Law 25 encryption requirements for personal information are widely interpreted as a foundational, reasonable technical safeguard, especially when dealing with sensitive data, large quantities of data, or network transmissions.

To meet Law 25 access control requirements for personal information, IT teams should implement strict role-based access control (RBAC), ensuring employees only access data needed for the performance of their duties. Additional controls must include multi-factor authentication (MFA), strong password policies, and routine user access reviews.

Implementing the necessary Law 25 confidentiality incident prevention security measures under Section 10 is the primary mechanism for preventing data breaches. If a breach occurs, regulators will investigate whether the organization's preemptive security safeguards were reasonable; inadequate measures will compound penalties.

When sharing data, organizations must ensure the recipient provides adequate protection. This involves conducting privacy impact assessments, signing data processing agreements (DPAs) with strict security clauses, and ensuring secure communication channels (such as TLS encryption) are used.

Section 10 explicitly lists kept and destroyed information. Law 25 security measures for storing personal information mandate securing data at rest, while Law 25 secure destruction of personal information requirements dictate using robust anonymization or destruction methods (following accepted best practices) once data is no longer needed.

Organizations should maintain an Information Security Policy, risk assessment reports, access control logs, encryption configurations, vulnerability scanning results, and documented media disposal procedures as tangible evidence to prove how to implement reasonable security measures under Law 25.

Failing to take necessary security measures to ensure the protection of personal information in accordance with Section 10 is an explicit offence. Enforcement risks include monetary administrative penalties or penal fines reaching up to $25,000,000 or 4% of worldwide turnover for the preceding fiscal year.

Law 25 §10 is easier to defend when safeguards are tied to data sensitivity and supported by consistent evidence. Tools like WatchDog Security's Compliance Center can map controls to requirements, flag gaps, and centralize evidence (e.g., access reviews, encryption attestations, scan results) to show measures are reasonable in context.

“Reasonable” safeguards change as systems and threats change, so monitoring needs to be continuous rather than point-in-time. Tools like WatchDog Security's Posture Management can help detect misconfigurations and provide remediation guidance, while WatchDog Security's Vulnerability Management can track findings and MTTR to support an auditable improvement loop.