A health tech enterprise wants to ensure that its in-house developed mobile app for users complies with data privacy regulations. Which of the following should be identified FIRST when creating an…

Data maintained by vendors is a subset of the data that needs to be inventoried, but identifying the owners of all data provides the foundational accountability.

Identifying vendors and outsourced systems is important for a comprehensive inventory, but understanding internal data ownership precedes identifying external parties handling that data.

Identifying application and data owners is the crucial first step because these individuals or teams are ultimately accountable for the data and its compliance with regulations. They are responsible for defining data handling policies, understanding data sensitivity, and ensuring that privacy requirements are met throughout the data lifecycle, which is foundational for any compliance effort.

An information classification scheme defines data sensitivity, but it is typically developed or applied by the data owners, making owner identification a prerequisite for effective classification.