The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023 introduces specific operational mandates—Lawful Processing, Data Minimisation, and Breach Reporting—that legacy perimeter-based networks cannot enforce natively. Whether a user accesses data from the office LAN, a remote VDI session, or a legacy VPN, trusting the "where" is no longer sufficient.
Compliance requires a structural shift to a context-aware zero trust architecture. We must replace "implied trust" with "explicit validation" across every layer: the identity, the device, the network, and the data residency.
Below is a technical mapping of how to engineer these controls using the integrated Accops Digital Workspace stack.
1. Enforcing Lawful Processing (Purpose Limitation)
The Mandate: DPDPA requires that data processing be "lawful and purpose-limited." You must prove not just who accessed the data, but that the access was tied to a specific, authorised business intent.
The Solution: Accops IAM (HyID) + ZTNA Gateway (HySecure) Standard authentication establishes identity but fails to establish intent. We address this by layering contextual access control.
- Composite Verification: We do not rely on static passwords. Accops IAM enforces MFA (including biometrics) and contextual checks (time + location + device posture).
- Purpose Tagging: Access policies in the ZTNA gateway are mapped to specific business roles. If a valid user attempts access outside their "purpose context" (e.g., unusual time or unverified network), the connection is dropped.
- Result: Every session log reflects a validated business purpose, satisfying the "lawful processing" audit requirement.
2. Data Minimisation & Residency (Storage Limitation)
The Mandate: Access to personal data must be restricted to the bare minimum (least privilege), and data should not sprawl onto unsecured endpoints.
The Solution: Accops VDI + ZTNA + Thin Clients We solve minimisation by controlling not just access, but data residency.
- Centralised Residency (VDI): By delivering applications and desktops via Accops VDI, we ensure that personal data is processed strictly within the datacentre. No data caches, files or temporary artefacts ever touch the endpoint.
- Segment of One (ZTNA): For network access, the ZTNA Gateway ensures users see only the specific applications required for their role. The rest of the network remains invisible, preventing lateral movement.
- Endpoint Hardening: For high-security zones, we deploy Accops Thin Clients (read-only terminals) or the Accops Secure Browser (read-only browser) to ensure the physical entry point itself cannot retain data or allow unauthorised downloads.
3. Reasonable Security Safeguards
The Mandate: The Act explicitly obligates organisations to implement "reasonable security safeguards" to prevent breaches. Exposed infrastructure is a liability.
The Solution: Accops Airbridge + Internet Isolation (RBI) We advocate for "infrastructure cloaking" and "browser isolation" to meet this high bar.
- Infrastructure Cloaking (Secure file transfer): We deploy Accops Airbridge to eliminate exposed inbound ports. It established an outbound-only tunnel to the gateway, effectively "cloaking" your application servers from the public internet scanners and DDoS vectors.
- Software Air Gap (Internet Isolation): To prevent malware from entering via the web, we use Internet Isolation (Virtual Browser). Web content is executed in a disposable container in the server, ensuring that no malicious code ever reaches the corporate endpoint or data repository.
4. Breach Readiness & Auditability
The Mandate: Significant data breaches must be reported to the Data Protection Board and CERT-In. You cannot report what you cannot see.
The Solution: SIEM Integration + Auditable Remote Support Compliance relies on the granularity of the audit trail across all channels.
- Forensic Telemetry: Accops HySecure generates CERT-In ready logs, capturing granular details (user, device id, resource accessed, timestamp) to reconstruct the exact "pattern of activity" for breach reporting.
- Auditable Support: Often, breaches happen during IT support sessions. The Accops Remote Support Tool ensures that even administrative access is fully recorded and auditable, closing a critical blind spot in standard compliance frameworks.
Conclusion
DPDPA compliance is not a single-product fix; it requires an architectural discipline. By combining VDI for data containment, ZTNA for access control, IAM for contextual identity verification, and Thin Clients and Endpoint Management for infrastructure safeguards, organisations can satisfy the Act’s technical requirements through robust engineering rather than manual policy.