Rule 6 — Reasonable security safeguards
Applies from 13 May 2027
6. Reasonable security safeguards. —
(1) A Data Fiduciary shall protect personal data in its possession or under its control, including in respect of any processing undertaken by it or on its behalf by a Data Processor, by taking reasonable security safeguards to prevent personal data breach, which shall include, at the minimum, —
(a) appropriate data security measures, such as securing of personal data through encryption, obfuscation, masking or the use of virtual tokens mapped to that personal data;
(b) appropriate measures to control access to the computer resources used by such Data Fiduciary or such a Data Processor, wherever applicable;
(c) visibility on the accessing of such personal data, through appropriate logs, monitoring and review, for enabling detection of unauthorised access, its investigation and remediation to prevent recurrence;
(d) reasonable measures for continued processing in the event of confidentiality, integrity or availability of such personal data being compromised as a result of destruction or loss of access to personal data or otherwise, such as by way of data-backups;
(e) for enabling the detection of unauthorised access, its investigation, remediation to prevent recurrence and continued processing in the event of such a compromise, retain such logs and personal data for a period of one year, unless compliance with any law for the time being in force requires otherwise;
(f) appropriate provision in the contract entered into between such Data Fiduciary and such a Data Processor, wherever applicable, for taking reasonable security safeguards; and
(g) appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure effective observance of security safeguards.
(2) In this rule, the expression “computer resource” shall have the same meaning as is assigned to it in Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).
Source: Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, G.S.R. 846(E), Gazette of India, Extraordinary, 13 November 2025; SHA-256 eabc7d05e013… — verified copy. Corrigendum G.S.R. 892(E), 10 December 2025 — applied
Plain-language note
Plain-language note pending
Questions people ask about this provision
- When do the obligations and enforcement under the DPDP Act and Rules begin?
- How does the DPDP Act affect vendor contracts and liability?
- How can organizations ensure the protection of personal data during operations under the DPDP Act?
- How do the DPDP Act and Rules affect data breach reporting and incident management?
- Are there special rules for certain types of data under the DPDP Act?
- What does 'Security Safeguards' mean under the DPDP Act?
- Do Data Processors need to implement security safeguards under the DPDP Act?
- We already have ISO certifications, is that enough for Rule 6?
Taught in Core Rules