HR Data Protection and AI: The Guide to Securing Without Slowing Down
Article 32 of GDPR requires companies to implement appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Since February 2025, Article 4 of the AI Act adds an "AI literacy" obligation: your teams must be trained on the risks associated with using artificial intelligence tools. Concretely, this means that an HR Director who allows their teams to use ChatGPT to analyze resumes or write performance reviews engages the company's liability if this data transits through third-party servers.
The Challenges of Data Protection with AI for HR
The Shadow AI Problem in HR Departments
I observe a recurring situation in the field: a recruiter copy-pastes 50 resumes into ChatGPT for quick sorting. A manager uses Claude to rephrase their team's annual reviews. An HR assistant asks Gemini to summarize exit interviews.
These uses generate three immediate legal risks:
| Risk | Applicable Article | Potential Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer of personal data to US servers | GDPR Art. 44-49 (International Transfers) | Up to EUR 20M or 4% of revenue |
| Absence of legal basis for processing | GDPR Art. 6 (Lawfulness of Processing) | Up to EUR 20M or 4% of revenue |
| Failure to train users | AI Act Art. 4 (AI Literacy) | Penalties being defined |
Why Traditional Solutions Fail
Traditional firewalls cannot see the content of HTTPS requests to openai.com or anthropic.com. These domains are legitimate. Traffic is encrypted. Your SIEM logs a normal connection to an authorized cloud service.
Complete blocking of AI tools creates the opposite effect: employees use personal phones or VPNs to bypass restrictions. Shadow AI then becomes completely invisible.
How Veil-it Ensures GDPR Compliance in Your AI Processes
Privacy-by-Design Architecture
Article 25 of GDPR requires data protection "by design". Veil-it applies this principle with a 100% local architecture:
- Semantic analysis in the browser: The detection engine runs client-side. No data transits to our servers.
- Masking before sending: Sensitive data (names, emails, social security numbers) are replaced with tokens before reaching the AI.
- Logs in France: Only alert metadata is stored, on servers hosted in France, out of reach of the Cloud Act.
Just-in-Time Training (AI Act Art. 4)
The AI Act imposes an "AI literacy" obligation for any AI system deployer. Veil-it transforms this obligation into automation:
When a user is about to send sensitive data to an AI tool, a contextual alert appears. It explains the specific risk and offers an alternative. This micro-training at the moment of action validates the legal awareness obligation.
Implementing an Effective AI Data Protection Strategy in 5 Steps
Step 1: Map Existing Uses
Before protecting, you must understand. CNIL recommendations on AI in business advocate for a processing inventory. Questions to ask:
- What AI tools are used in the HR department?
- What types of data are sent to them?
- Are there approved alternatives?
Step 2: Classify Data by Sensitivity
GDPR distinguishes "ordinary" personal data from special categories (Art. 9 - health data, political opinions, union membership). In HR, this distinction is critical:
| Classification | HR Examples | Authorized AI Use |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Published job offers | Without restriction |
| Internal | Org charts, aggregated statistics | With anonymization |
| Confidential | Resumes, reviews, payslips | Local only or prohibited |
| Sensitive (Art. 9) | Sick leave, union affiliations | Prohibited |
Step 3: Deploy Technical Protection
Article 32 of GDPR requires "appropriate technical measures". A browser extension deployed via MDM (Microsoft Intune, Google Workspace) meets this requirement without heavy infrastructure.
Observed deployment time: 15 minutes for 500 workstations.
Step 4: Document for Audit
The accountability principle (Art. 5.2 GDPR) requires demonstrating compliance. Veil-it automatically generates:
- The AI processing registry
- Training evidence (alerts viewed and acknowledged)
- Usage statistics by tool and department
Step 5: Review Quarterly
AI tools evolve rapidly. New services appear every month. A quarterly policy review allows adjusting blocking and redirection rules.
Choosing the Right Tools to Secure Employee Data
Selection Criteria According to ANSSI
The French National Agency for Information Systems Security (ANSSI) recommends several criteria for evaluating a security solution:
- Data sovereignty: Where is the data stored? Under which jurisdiction?
- Technical transparency: Is the operation documented?
- Reversibility: Can data be exported or deleted easily?
Comparison of Approaches
| Approach | Latency | Sovereignty | Deployment Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud proxy (CASB) | +200-500ms | Variable (often US) | High (certificates, routing) |
| Network DLP | +50-100ms | On-premise possible | High (appliances) |
| Local browser extension | 0ms | France (logs only) | Low (standard MDM) |
FAQ: Answers to Common Questions About AI and HR Data Protection
Can ChatGPT Be Used for Recruitment?
Article 22 of GDPR governs automated decisions with legal effects on individuals. Resume screening by AI falls under this framework. If you use an AI tool for recruitment, the candidate must be informed and can request human intervention.
In practice: using AI as a decision aid is acceptable. Delegating the final decision without human control is not.
How to Train My HR Teams on AI Without Spending Weeks?
AI Act Art. 4 does not impose a training hour requirement. It requires users to have a "sufficient level of AI literacy" appropriate to their context. Contextual training at the time of use (alert + explanation) can suffice if documented.
What to Do If an Employee Has Already Sent Sensitive Data to an AI Tool?
Art. 33 of GDPR requires notification to the supervisory authority within 72 hours in case of a data breach presenting a risk to individuals' rights. First assess the actual risk:
- What data was shared?
- Does the AI tool retain data for training?
- Are identifiable individuals concerned?
If the risk is high, consult your DPO to decide on notification.
Does Veil-it Slow Down HR Processes?
Analysis runs locally in the browser. There is no additional network request, so no added latency. The only "slowdown" is displaying an alert when sensitive data is detected, which takes 2 seconds to read.
Key Takeaways
HR data protection in an AI usage context rests on three technical pillars:
- Local detection: Identify sensitive data before it leaves the workstation
- Automatic masking: Replace personal information with reversible tokens
- Traceability: Document usage to meet GDPR accountability requirements
The goal is not to block AI, but to govern it. CNIL recommendations on generative AI point in this direction: enabling innovation while guaranteeing individuals' rights.
References
- GDPR - Regulation (EU) 2016/679 - General Data Protection Regulation
- AI Act - Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 - European Artificial Intelligence Regulation
- CNIL - Artificial Intelligence - CNIL recommendations on AI
- ANSSI - French National Agency for Information Systems Security
- OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications - Security framework for LLM applications