Security, Privacy & Compliance Deep Dive for Messaging Partners

Why security is the make-or-break for messaging partners

Messaging touches your most sensitive systems—identity, consent, purchase history, location, and a running log of attention. When you invite an agency or platform into that loop, you don’t just buy creative; you invite an operator into your infrastructure. That invitation has to survive your CISO’s coffee.

The good news: a partner who runs security like a discipline tends to run everything else like a discipline. They respect risk windows during migrations, they treat deliverability like a license, and they keep a change log because they expect to be audited. The bad news: lots of messaging vendors still treat security as a slide, not a system. Your job is to tell the difference fast.

The partner packet: one PDF IT, Legal, and Marketing can all read

Ask for one document that covers:

1. Data flow diagram. Systems, data classes (PII vs. analytics), ingress/egress, storage, encryption, residency.
2. Controls & certifications. SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 (scope, period), pen test summary, vulnerability management cadence.
3. Contracts. DPA (roles, lawful bases, SCCs), sub-processor list & notification policy, sample ROPA entries.
4. Access control. SSO/MFA, least privilege, quarterly access reviews, contractor controls, offboarding SLA, bring-your-own key (if relevant).
5. Incident response. Severity ladder, detection sources, 24/72-hour timelines, evidence handling, communications template, no-blame post-mortems.
6. Consent & compliance. How consent is captured and enforced across jurisdictions (GDPR/CCPA/CASL/PECR) and channels (email/SMS). Which tools: e.g., Dataships for consent automation, OneTrust/Ketch/Transcend for DSAR & preference, Drata/Vanta/Secureframe for control automation.

Control posture: SOC 2 vs. ISO 27001 (and what those actually cover)

You don’t need to be a compliance professional to ask good questions. Start with scope and evidence.

SOC 2 Type I vs. Type II

• Type I: controls designed at a point in time (a snapshot).
• Type II: controls operated effectively over a period (typically 6–12 months). This is what most enterprise buyers want.

Ask: What systems are in scope (production, CI/CD, support)? What Trust Services Criteria (Security, Availability, Confidentiality, etc.)? Dates? Exceptions?

ISO 27001

ISO is a management system certification (ISMS). It demands risk assessment, control selection (Annex A), internal audits, and continual improvement. Ask for the Statement of Applicability and surveillance audit dates.

Automation platforms that help

• Drata / Vanta / Secureframe: control monitoring, policy management, vendor evidence collection, and audit prep.
• SecurityScorecard / Panorays / Whistic: external posture and vendor risk exchange for your review process.

Certs are not a forcefield, but they’re good signal when backed by scope and living processes.

GDPR/CCPA/UK GDPR in practice: controller vs. processor, DPAs, ROPA, DPIAs

Most messaging partners act as processors for your data. You remain the controller. Write your DPA so that responsibilities are explicit:

• Roles & lawful bases: controller vs. processor; consent vs. legitimate interest; marketing under PECR/CASL.
• Processing details: purposes, categories of data & subjects, retention, security measures.
• Transfers: SCC Module 2 (controller→processor) or 3 (processor→processor), plus Transfer Impact Assessment (see below).
• Sub-processors: list, notification, objection window, flow-down clauses.
• Data subject rights: timeline & mechanics for access, deletion, portability; where DSARs are managed (OneTrust/Ketch/Transcend).
• Assistance: processor’s obligation to assist with DPIAs and consultations with supervisory authorities.

Records of Processing Activities (ROPA)

Keep a line for your messaging activities: systems, categories, legal bases, recipients, retention, and security controls. Your DPO will thank you during audits.

Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)

Run a DPIA when you introduce new journeys or combine datasets in a way that raises risk (e.g., SMS + location + purchase segmentation). Document mitigations.

Cross-border transfers: Schrems II, SCCs, and Transfer Impact Assessments

If your messaging partner or its sub-processors are in the U.S. (or otherwise outside the EEA/UK), you need Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and a Transfer Impact Assessment (TIA). The TIA examines local laws, government access risk, and technical measures (encryption, key control).

• Use the 2021 EU SCCs and the UK IDTA/Addendum as applicable.
• Describe encryption and key custody (e.g., customer-managed keys via KMS).
• List sub-processors and their locations; document onward transfers.
• Note supplemental measures (minimization, pseudonymization, split processing).

Consent & preference at scale: Dataships and other A+ compliance tech

Consent is where law meets lifecycle. It’s also where most programs drift: CSV imports with mystery opt-in states, legacy forms that don’t match current disclosures, and mixed jurisdictions in the same list. Fix consent, and everything downstream works better—deliverability, targeting, and legal risk.

Dataships (consent automation for marketing lists)

Dataships automates jurisdiction-aware consent for email/SMS lists. It analyzes your subscribers, identifies gaps (e.g., missing double opt-in for Germany; missing PECR consent for UK), and can help generate compliant opt-in flows and segment corrections. It’s especially useful when you inherit lists or run Shopify Markets with mixed geo consent.

• Jurisdiction logic (GDPR/PECR/CASL) built into the audit.
• Automated outreach to correct consent where permissible.
• Reports that your DPO and ESP can both use.

Alternatives & complements: OneTrust, Didomi, Ketch, and Transcend for DSAR, consent & preference centers; Osano for cookie banners & vendor monitoring.

Best-practice consent wiring

• Single source of truth for consent flags; avoid per-tool divergence.
• Store consent_channel, consent_scope, jurisdiction, timestamp, source, ip/user_agent.
• Expose a preference center (language toggles, content themes, SMS snooze).
• Honor quiet hours per profile; log opt-downs as success, not failure.

SMS/10DLC/TCPA/CTIA: staying whitelisted without annoying humans

Carriers care about consent quality, cadence, content, and complaint behavior. Compliance is not a checkbox; it’s a program.

• 10DLC: register brand & campaigns via The Campaign Registry (TCR). Keep sample messages updated and consistent with actual traffic.
• TCPA/CTIA: “Msg & data rates may apply,” frequency disclosure (“msg freq varies”), HELP/STOP keywords, brand identity in thread, no purchase condition for opt-in.
• Quiet hours: profile-level enforcement; restrict emergency exceptions to transactional notices.
• Opt-outs: implement one-touch opt-out and “Snooze 7 days.” Track opt-out rate per send; if ≥1% regularly, fix content/cadence or consent source.

Identity & access: SSO/MFA, least privilege, offboarding, secrets

Most incidents are permission incidents. Ask for—and enforce—these basics:

• SSO + MFA: Okta/Azure AD; no shared logins; role-based access.
• Least privilege: task-appropriate roles in ESP/SMS/warehouse; no “admin by default.”
• Quarterly access recertification: named owner attests to who should keep access.
• Offboarding SLA: 24 hours for employees; same-day for contractors; termination checklist.
• Secrets management: HashiCorp Vault/AWS Secrets Manager; never store secrets in repos or sheets.
• Customer-managed keys (optional): KMS (AWS/GCP) with clear key rotation policy.

Encryption & key management: KMS, TLS, and practical vendor asks

• In transit: TLS 1.2+ everywhere; opportunistic TLS for SMTP.
• At rest: AES-256 or equivalent; disk-level + application-level encryption for PII hotspots.
• Key management: KMS with rotation; separation of duties; audit logs for key access.
• Backups: encrypted, tested restores; documented RPO/RTO.

Logging, monitoring & incident response: how grown-ups run outages

Ask for the incident playbook and a sanitized post-mortem. Look for:

• Detection: SIEM (Splunk/Datadog) rules, anomaly alerts, deliverability monitors (complaints, seeds, read-time drift).
• Triage: severity definitions; who pages whom; authority to pause sends.
• Communication: 24-hour acknowledgment; 72-hour legal windows for regulators; templates for customers.
• Forensics: evidence handling; log retention; tamper protection.
• Post-mortems: blameless culture; action items with owners/dates; public summary when warranted.

Data minimization, retention & deletion: stop hoarding risk

Hold less; sleep better. Require:

• Data classification (PII, PHI, PCI); tag sensitive fields; avoid free-text PII in notes.
• Retention schedules by data class; deletion after X days of inactivity or at end of contract.
• Deletion/verifiability: deletion job evidence; sample redacted exports; logs.
• Vendor reuse: prohibit using your data to train models without explicit consent.

Email-specific requirements: list-unsubscribe, RFC 8058, placement

• List-Unsubscribe and List-Unsubscribe-Post headers (RFC 2369/8058) for one-click opt-outs.
• Accessible templates (real text, alt text, AAA contrast) to avoid spam heuristics and enable assistive tech.
• Alignment: dedicated sender domain, DMARC at quarantine/reject after stabilization.
• Complaint thresholds: monitor Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook; freeze playbook when thresholds near risk.

Security review playbook: discovery → evidence → decision

1. Discovery (week 1): request the partner packet, sub-processor list, and demo of access controls & templates.
2. Evidence (week 2): SOC 2/ISO evidence, pen test summary, DPA, SCCs/TIA, incident post-mortem, consent tool configs (e.g., Dataships report), 10DLC registrations.
3. Interviews (week 3): 60-minute security walkthrough, 30-minute deliverability ops, 30-minute consent & legal.
4. Decision (week 4): score with the rubric, document risks, set conditions (e.g., mandate SSO/MFA before production).

Scoring rubric (weights & evidence)

Copy-ready clauses: DPA, SOW/SLA, incident, sub-processors

PROCESSING. Processor shall process Personal Data solely on documented instructions from Controller and only for the purposes set forth in the Agreement.

SECURITY. Processor shall implement appropriate technical and organizational measures, including encryption in transit and at rest, access control (SSO/MFA/least privilege), logging, and incident detection/response.

SUB-PROCESSORS. Processor shall maintain a list of sub-processors and notify Controller of any intended changes at least [30] days in advance, providing an opportunity to object. Processor shall flow down equivalent data protection obligations to sub-processors.

TRANSFERS. Where transfers of Personal Data occur outside the EEA/UK, Parties shall execute the applicable SCCs and conduct a Transfer Impact Assessment. Supplemental measures (e.g., encryption, key management) shall be implemented as needed.

ASSISTANCE. Processor shall assist Controller with data subject requests and DPIAs, taking into account the nature of processing and the information available.

DELETION/RETURN. Upon termination, Processor shall delete or return Personal Data within [30] days, subject to legal retention obligations, and provide deletion confirmation upon request.
      

If Processor becomes aware of a Security Incident impacting Personal Data, Processor shall (a) notify Controller without undue delay and in any event within [24] hours, 
(b) provide known details regarding the nature, scope, and mitigating steps, (c) cooperate in investigation and remediation, and (d) deliver a post-incident report within [5] business days.
      

Processor shall provide written notice of any intended sub-processor engagement at least [30] days prior to onboarding. Controller may object on reasonable grounds related to data protection.
If the Parties cannot agree on mitigating measures within [15] days, Controller may terminate affected Services without penalty.
      

The 45-day security pilot: smoke tests that matter

Before you sign a long SOW, run a pilot whose entire job is to test operations under mild stress.

• Provision access via SSO/MFA; enforce least-privilege roles; run a mock offboarding.
• Import a small test list with real consent flags; have the partner show how their consent logic (e.g., Dataships) handles mixed jurisdictions.
• Send a non-promo lifecycle message; monitor complaint by domain; verify seeded placement.
• Request a sample DSAR and watch the process end to end.
• Run a tabletop incident (e.g., suspected compromise); observe comms timelines and freeze behavior.

Receipts vs. red flags checklist

Receipts

• Living SOC 2/ISO evidence with scope & exceptions; pen test summary
• DPA + SCCs/IDTA; TIA; sub-processor list with change log
• SSO/MFA enforced; named roles; quarterly access reviews; offboarding proof
• Incident playbook & anonymized post-mortem; freeze policy
• Consent automation evidence (e.g., Dataships audit or OneTrust flow); 10DLC registrations

Red flags

• “We can send from your domain tomorrow” (no warm-up/DMARC)
• Shared logins; no SSO; “we’ll just create an admin”
• No sub-processor list; resistance to SCCs/TIAs
• Image-only templates; no accessibility standards
• “We duplicate flows for language” with no governance, no TMS

FAQ

Do we need SOC 2 and ISO 27001?

No. Many enterprises accept either when scope is appropriate. SOC 2 Type II is common in the U.S.; ISO 27001 is more global. Evidence and living processes matter more than logos.

Is Dataships required?

No single tool is. We mention Dataships because it automates consent audits and jurisdiction logic for marketing lists—a common blind spot. OneTrust, Ketch, Transcend, and others can complement or cover broader privacy operations.

How strict should 10DLC be in the SOW?

Very. Require brand/campaign registrations, keyword handling (HELP/STOP), quiet hours, opt-out reporting, and a plan for carrier blocks. Non-compliance gets programs blocked fast.

What if a boutique agency doesn’t have SOC 2 yet?

Ask for control mapping, policies, evidence of SSO/MFA/least privilege, incident playbook, and a timeline for audit. Score lower on “Controls,” higher on transparency if they can prove practice.

Do we need a CDP to run secure messaging?

No. A warehouse (Snowflake/BigQuery) + dbt + reverse ETL (Hightouch/Census) + strong ESP/SMS practices is sufficient for many enterprise programs. Add a CDP when you have clear use-cases and a data team to run it.

Toolbox & resources

• Consent & privacy: Dataships, OneTrust, Ketch, Transcend, Didomi, TrustArc
• Security automation: Drata, Vanta, Secureframe
• Vendor risk: Whistic, SecurityScorecard, Panorays
• Identity/SSO: Okta, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)
• Secrets/KMS: HashiCorp Vault, AWS KMS, GCP KMS
• SIEM/Monitoring: Splunk, Datadog
• Deliverability: seed/panel services; DMARC monitoring (dmarcian, Valimail)
• Legal refs: EDPB guidance on Schrems II; UK ICO guidance; CTIA Messaging Principles, TCPA, CASL, PECR