What Is a Data Subject Request? How to Handle It in Jira and Confluence
Introduction:
If your company operates in the EU—or serves even one EU customer—you’re legally obligated to honor Data Subject Requests (DSRs) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That includes the right to access, rectify, or delete personal data.
But what happens when that personal data is scattered across hundreds (or thousands) of Jira issues and Confluence pages?
Here’s how to handle DSRs the right way—without losing sleep.
What Counts as a Data Subject Request?
A DSR can come in many forms:
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A request to access all personal data
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A request to have data deleted (“Right to be Forgotten”)
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A request to restrict or stop data processing
And these requests are time-sensitive—under GDPR, you typically have 30 days to respond.
Why Jira and Confluence Make This Hard
In Jira, personal data can live in:
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Issue summaries
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Descriptions and comments
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Attachments and logs
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Custom fields
In Confluence, it hides in:
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Pages
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Inline comments
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Historical versions
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Embedded screenshots
Tracking all that down manually? It’s inefficient, error-prone, and risky.
How the Data Protection Toolkit Makes It Easy
The Data Protection and Security Toolkit gives you tools to manage DSRs efficiently across Jira and Confluence.
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User Anonymization: One-click anonymization across all projects and spaces
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Sensitive Data Scanning: Find names, emails, phone numbers—even inside attachments
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Audit Logs: Track who performed actions and when
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Custom Regex Rules: Search for internal identifiers like employee IDs or customer codes
Real-Life Use Case
Let’s say a former employee requests data deletion. With DPT, you can:
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Locate every reference to their name or email in Jira and Confluence
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Anonymize that data without deleting the record
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Export logs to show proof of action if audited
Compliance Without the Chaos
Data Subject Requests don’t have to bring operations to a halt. With the right tools, you can comply with confidence—and protect your team from costly mistakes.
👉 Book a demo and see it in action
👉 Explore Jira and Confluence integrations