ISO 27001 taught us how to protect data; the DPDPA is teaching us that we don’t truly own it. If you're treating these two as the same thing, you're missing half the picture.

For a long time, getting your ISO 27001 certification was the ultimate goal for any company handling information. It meant you had the best systems in place to keep hackers out and keep your data safe. But now that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) is here, many organizations are realizing that being secure and being compliant are two very different things.

The problem is that your current security setup was designed to protect the company’s assets. DPDPA, however, is all about protecting the individual’s rights. This shift is causing a lot of confusion for even the most prepared firms. You might have the best encryption in the world, but if you don't have the right Consent or a way for users to delete their data, you are still at risk of massive fines.

In this blog, we are going to compare these two frameworks side-by-side. We will look at the specific areas where your ISO 27001 foundation is strong and, more importantly, where the DPDPA requires you to do things differently, from how you collect data to how you manage Data Principal Rights.

From Security to Privacy: What Needs to Change?

If you are already ISO 27001 certified, your servers are secure and your access is controlled. However, to meet DPDPA standards, you need to upgrade your infrastructure to handle individual rights and consent as actively as you handle security threats.

1. Upgrade Your Consent Architecture

ISO 27001 ensures that data is stored safely once you have it. The DPDPA requires you to manage exactly how it gets into your system.

You need to move away from all-or-nothing consent. Your database must now be able to store Consent Artifacts, digital receipts that show exactly what the user agreed to, in what language, and for what specific purpose by implementing a Consent Management Module that links every piece of data to a specific permission ID.

Learn how ARC automates and simplifies Consent Management for your customers with Zero-code Integration. Book a Demo today!

2. Build an Automated Deletion Engine

ISO frameworks often encourage long-term logging for security audits. The DPDPA mandates Storage Limitation, meaning you must delete data the moment its job is done.

You cannot just hide old data; you must erase it. To achieve this, you can set up automated Data Lifecycle Workflows that trigger a permanent wipe of personal information once a specific project or contract expires, rather than waiting for a manual yearly cleanup.

With ARC you can manage Data Lifecycle Workflows seamlessly. See it in action!

3. Create a Self-Service Privacy Portal

Your current security infrastructure is designed to keep unauthorized people out. The DPDPA requires you to let Data Principals (the users) in to manage their own data.

• The new change is you need a technical way to fulfill Data Principal Rights (DPR) like requests for data summaries or corrections.

• To achieve this, build a User Rights Dashboard where customers can log in, see a summary of the data you hold, and request a correction or erasure without having to call your support team.

ARC provides 50+ predefined dashboards with custom report creation and export capabilities. ARC builds a User Right Dashboard for you as soon as you're onboarded.

4. Enable One-Click Withdrawal

The law states that withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it.

• Most ISO setups don't have a stop button that instantly halts data processing across all servers and third-party tools.

• To implement seamless permission withdrawal, you need a Real-Time Revocation API. When a user clicks withdraw, this API should immediately notify all your internal systems and connected vendors to stop using that user’s data.

  
  

With ARC, you can seamlessly track user consents (granted or withdrawn) on your Command Center dashboard, to put consent management in action. Simply Consent Management today!

5. Tag Data by Purpose, Not Just Sensitivity

ISO 27001 usually tags data based on how secret it is (e.g., Public vs. Confidential). The DPDPA cares about Purpose Limitation.

• To achieve 100% DPDPA compliance, you need to know not just what the data is, but why you have it.

• This is not an easy task for organizations handling TBs of data daily. To achieve this, you need to update your Data Inventory metadata. Every database table should have a Purpose Tag so that if a user asks, Why do you have my phone number? your system can instantly provide the legal justification.

  
  

One Platform That Fixes Every DPDPA Gap You’re Struggling With

If you read the sections above and thought, “This sounds important, but how are we supposed to implement all of this?” – you’re not alone.

Most organizations already have ISO 27001, SOC 2, or strong security controls in place. What the DPDPA changes is not whether data is secure, but how data is collected, used, tracked, and retired, and that shift creates real operational friction. This is where ARC comes in.

ARC is designed as a privacy and compliance layer over your existing systems. You don’t need to rebuild applications, redesign databases, or add multiple point tools. ARC connects consent, data discovery, purpose limitation, lifecycle management, and user rights into one continuous, auditable system.

ARC helps you:

• Capture clear, purpose-specific consent and store it as verifiable consent records

• Record and Delete personal data when its purpose is fulfilled

• Give users a self-service privacy dashboard to access, correct, or erase their data

• Instantly stop data processing when consent is withdrawn

• Discover Data in real-time across servers, databases, and entire infrastructure

• Understand why you hold each data element, not just how sensitive it is

  
  

All of this happens without heavy engineering effort. ARC is built for zero-code integration, making it practical for fast-growing teams that don’t want compliance to slow them down. Instead of managing privacy through documents, emails, and manual follow-ups, ARC turns DPDPA compliance into something operational, visible, and measurable.

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Comparing the Frameworks

The good news is that your ISO 27001 certification covers most of the technical heavy lifting. For example, the DPDPA requires you to have Reasonable Security Safeguards to prevent data leaks. Your existing ISO controls for Cryptography (A.8.24) and Access Control (A.9) already do this job. When the law asks you to protect data from unauthorized access, you can point to your Information Security Management System (ISMS) as proof that you have the right locks on the doors.

However, there are big areas where ISO 27001 is completely silent. The most obvious gap is Notice and Consent (Section 6). While ISO ensures data is safe once it’s inside your system, it doesn’t care how you got it. The DPDPA, on the other hand, mandates that you provide a clear notice in multiple languages before you even touch a user's data. Additionally, ISO 27001 focuses on protecting the company's secrets, but it doesn't have a process for Data Principal Rights. This means your current system likely isn't set up to handle a customer’s request to see, correct, or delete their data within the law’s strict timelines.

Another major issue is Storage Limitation. ISO 27001 actually encourages you to keep detailed logs and records for long-term audits. But the DPDPA says you must delete personal data as soon as the specific task it was collected for is finished. This creates a conflict: your security team wants to keep the data just in case, while your legal team needs it gone to avoid a penalty. To be compliant, you’ll need to update your Data Deletion (A.8.10) policies to be much more aggressive than what ISO requires.

Read CERT-In Log Retention vs DPDPA Right to Erasure

Finally, there is the issue of Vendor Risk. ISO 27001 asks you to sign secure contracts with your suppliers. The DPDPA goes much further by making you the Data Fiduciary, legally responsible for your vendor's mistakes. Even if you have a great contract, you are the one on the hook for the fine if your vendor loses customer data. This means you have to move from checking a box during a vendor audit to actively monitoring how your processors handle privacy every day.

Conclusion

The takeaway for any ISO 27001 certified firm is, your security foundation is excellent, but it is no longer the final word on compliance. While your Information Security Management System (ISMS) has spent years protecting your business from hackers, the DPDPA is now asking you to protect the rights of your customers. Having a world-class vault doesn't matter if you shouldn't have been holding the items inside it in the first place.

To bridge the gap, you don’t need to replace your current security framework you need to expand it. By moving from a secure data mindset to a privacy-first culture, you can turn your existing ISO controls into a powerful engine for DPDPA compliance. The transition will require technical shifts, like building consent dashboards and automated deletion tools, but the biggest change is mindset change: recognizing that you are a Data Fiduciary responsible to the people, not just a company guarding its own assets.

Don't wait for an audit or a fine to find the gaps in your fortress. Start mapping your ISO controls to the DPDPA requirements today and ensure that your security excellence is matched by your legal accountability.

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