Tool Overview:
privado

About Privado

Privado is a privacy code scanning platform designed to help organizations monitor and govern personal data flows across their digital infrastructure. The platform scans code from websites, applications, and backend systems to identify how personal data is collected, used, shared, and stored. Through its integration with major analytics platforms like Adobe, Google Analytics, Segment, and LinkedIn, Privado provides visibility into data sharing practices and potential privacy risks.

What does Privado do?

The platform's core functionality centers around automated privacy compliance monitoring through code analysis. Using a combination of static code analysis and AI-powered scanning, Privado creates dynamic data maps that track personal data elements from collection points to third parties, APIs, SDKs, and logs. The platform runs over 30 compliance checks across various privacy regulations including GDPR, CPRA/CCPA, GPC, IAB's TCF, PIPL, and PIPEDA.

Privado's consent compliance capabilities focus on auditing websites to ensure Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) properly collect and honor user consent based on location. The platform scans websites and applications to detect new data flows, third parties, and potential risks after each update. When violations are found, Privado identifies the exact lines of code that conflict with privacy regulations.

For assessment and documentation requirements, Privado automates the creation of Records of Processing Activities (RoPAs), Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs), and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs). These assessments are pre-filled with information gathered through code scans about how personal data is processed. The platform also supports integration with other privacy tools like OneTrust and TrustArc, allowing organizations to centrally manage their data maps and assessments.

What makes Privado different?

A key differentiator is Privado's approach to privacy governance through direct code analysis rather than traditional questionnaire-based assessments. By scanning code during the software development process, the platform can identify potential privacy issues before they reach production environments. This 'shift-left' approach aims to integrate privacy considerations earlier in the development cycle.

The platform employs AI technology to enhance its scanning capabilities, particularly for complex tasks like describing processing activities. Unlike traditional data discovery tools that focus solely on stored data, Privado analyzes code context to understand how data is actually used within applications. The company maintains that their AI implementation processes information locally without sharing customer code with third-party AI services.

Use cases and industries

Privado serves organizations implementing digital tracking governance and privacy compliance programs. The platform specifically addresses challenges related to personal data sharing through marketing tools, analytics platforms, and third-party integrations. Common use cases include monitoring data flows to third parties, implementing pixel and tracker governance, and auditing cookie banner compliance.

The tool requires approximately three weeks for initial onboarding and operates through a combination of automated scanning and policy-based governance rules. For engineering teams, Privado provides capabilities to implement privacy requirements as code using YAML-based policy files, aiming to reduce the need for manual privacy assessments during development.