The Office of Privacy and Data Protection works in support of the State Chief Information Officer, who is responsible for statewide security and privacy standards, as per N.C.G.S. 143B-1376.

Tasked by the State CIO to lead the state's privacy program, the office is the central point of contact for state agencies on matters involving data privacy and data protection and is overseen by the state chief privacy officer.

The office’s duties include:

  • Providing guidance to state agencies regarding privacy principles and best practices
  • Providing training to state agencies and employees
  • Participating in the review of major state agency projects involving state data

In addition, the Office of Privacy and Data Protection serves as a resource to local governments and the public to provide education and training on data privacy and data protection.  

The office works closely with the state’s chief data officer, chief AI officer and chief information security officer to enhance the quality of life for North Carolinians by protecting personal data entrusted to the state through and uphold public trust.

To assist in achieving this goal, the state of North Carolina officially adopted in 2022 the Fair Information Practice Principles, a set of internationally accepted privacy principles that guide how organizations and agencies should collect, use and protect personal information.

Some of these principles include transparency, data minimization, accountability, and security. Incorporating these principles will help state agencies reduce privacy risk, improve individual’s trust in government data handling, and embed a culture of “privacy first” in all continuing and new data collection, storage and use projects. 

A Venn diagram showing the relationship between privacy and cybersecurity and the commonalities of both.
Privacy has its own unique areas represented on the far left as well as shared areas of focus with cybersecurity, represented in the middle column of the above graph.

 

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