DATA PROTECTION & PRIVACY
Privacycomplianceis not optional.Breach response is not a strategy.
Speak to a Privacy Specialist →Aligned to Malaysia's JPDP DPO Training Guidelines.
ACFC's DPO Training programme is aligned to the Personal Data Protection Commissioner of Malaysia's requirements for DPO competency under the Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024.
Privacy
compliance
is not optional.
Breach response is not a strategy.
ACFC's Data Protection & Privacy practice covers the full lifecycle of privacy obligations from strategy and data mapping through impact assessments, compliance frameworks, DPO capability building, and breach response readiness. Aligned to Malaysia's PDPA and GDPR.
DATA PROTECTION & PRIVACY
From strategy to compliance. Every stage covered.
Privacy compliance and cybersecurity are the same problem
A data breach does not just create a cybersecurity incident it creates a regulatory notification obligation, a legal liability, a reputational crisis, and a compliance investigation, often simultaneously. ACFC's Data Protection & Privacy practice operates alongside our security team because protecting personal data requires both legal framework expertise and technical security capability
From strategy to compliance. Every stage covered.
Data protection and privacy obligations in Malaysia continue to expand and mature. Compliance is driven by Malaysia’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), cross‑border data transfer requirements influenced by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and sector‑specific expectations issued by regulators such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bursa Malaysia, and the Ministry of Health. Together, these requirements create a multi‑layered and overlapping compliance landscape, particularly for regulated sectors, digital platforms, and organizations operating across borders. ACFC addresses this complexity by combining regulatory and legal expertise with practical execution, including data discovery and mapping, technical control implementation, and workforce capability development, enabling organizations to operationalize privacy and data protection with confidence.
Privacy compliance and cybersecurity are the same problem
A data breach does not just create a cybersecurity incident it creates a regulatory notification obligation, a legal liability, a reputational crisis, and a compliance investigation, often simultaneously. ACFC's Data Protection & Privacy practice operates alongside our security team because protecting personal data requires both legal framework expertise and technical security capability
Data Protection Strategy Development
A Data Protection Strategy defines how your organisation governs personal data across its entire lifecycle from the policies and procedures that set the standards, through the operational processes that implement them, to the monitoring and reporting mechanisms that demonstrate compliance. ACFC designs strategies proportionate to your organisation's size, risk profile, and regulatory obligations practical to implement, not just documentable.
RoPA / Critical Data Processing Inventory
A Record of Processing Activities is a legally required document under GDPR and best-practice under PDPA documenting every processing activity involving personal data, the lawful basis, the purpose, retention period, and third parties involved. ACFC builds RoPAs through structured discovery and interviews, not questionnaire self-declaration. The result is an accurate, defensible record that reflects how personal data is actually processed in your organisation.
Privacy Impact Assessments
A Privacy Impact Assessment evaluates the privacy implications of a proposed project, system, or process before implementation when risks are inexpensive to address, rather than after deployment when they are not. ACFC's PIAs assess necessity, proportionality, data minimisation, consent mechanisms, and risk to data subjects producing a decision-ready report with documented mitigations.
Data Protection Impact Assessment
A DPIA is mandatory under GDPR Article 35 for processing activities likely to result in high risk to individuals including large-scale profiling, systematic monitoring, and processing of special categories of data. ACFC delivers DPIAs that meet supervisory authority standards, with documented risk assessments, mitigation measures, and residual risk sign-off. Where required, ACFC manages pre-consultation submissions to supervisory authorities.
Data Privacy Maturity Assessments
An assessment of your organisation's data privacy programme maturity across five dimensions producing a benchmarked maturity score, a gap register with regulatory cross-references, and an improvement roadmap with 30/90/180-day prioritisation.
Cross-Border Data Transfer Impact Assessments
Organisations using cloud providers, analytics platforms, or outsourced services that process data outside Malaysia must ensure cross-border personal data transfers comply with applicable legal requirements. ACFC assesses the legal basis for each transfer route and designs the appropriate safeguarding mechanism including Standard Contractual Clauses, Binding Corporate Rules, and adequacy assessments.
Legitimate Interest Assessment
Legitimate interest is a valid lawful basis under GDPR and PDPA but it requires a structured three-part test to confirm it applies, and it cannot be assumed. ACFC delivers LIAs as documented legal risk opinions with a clear lawfulness determination and recommended safeguards, defensible if challenged by a data subject or regulator.
DPO Training & Professional Development
Data Protection Officers carry significant legal and regulatory responsibility under Malaysia's Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024, which now requires Data Controllers and Data Processors to appoint DPOs where applicable. ACFC's DPO training programme equips new and existing DPOs, privacy teams, and business owners with the practical knowledge and operational tools to perform their responsibilities effectively. Aligned to the Personal Data Protection Commissioner of Malaysia (JPDP) DPO Training Service Providers Guideline and the DPO Competency Guideline.
Data Privacy Drills & Wargames
A personal data breach activates a cascade of obligations detection, internal escalation, regulatory notification (72 hours under GDPR), data subject notification, evidence preservation, and external communications that must happen in sequence, under pressure, with the right people making the right decisions. ACFC's data privacy drills simulate this cascade in a controlled environment so your organisation knows exactly what to do before it needs to. Ten cyber drills are conducted annually across the Axiata Group this operational experience directly informs every client engagement.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS
Every engagement aligned to your applicable obligations
TALK TO US
Ready to build a privacy programme that works?
Privacy Programme Review
Start the conversationDPIA or LIA Requirement
Speak to a specialistDPO Training
Enquire about trainingEvery engagement aligned to your applicable obligations
Ready to build a privacy programme that works?
Tell us about your regulatory obligations and where your current programme has gaps. We'll connect you with a data privacy specialist.
Privacy Programme Review
Not sure where your programme stands? Start with a Data Privacy Maturity Assessment — benchmarked against PDPA and GDPR requirements with a gap register and roadmap.
Start the conversationDPIA or LIA Requirement
Launching a new product, system, or processing activity? We'll scope a PIA or DPIA and confirm the right lawful basis before you deploy — not after a regulator asks.
Speak to a specialistDPO Training
Newly appointed DPO or building your privacy team's capability? Our training programme is aligned to the JPDP DPO Competency Guideline and the Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024.
Enquire about training