To provide evidence of GDPR compliance, a company performs an internal audit.

 The GDPR requires that the processor only processes personal data on behalf of the controller and according to the controller’s instructions12. The agreement between the controller and the processor must include provisions that ensure that the processor does not process personal data for any other purposes or in a manner that is inconsistent with the controller’s instructions34. Therefore, if the processor stores personal data that is not necessary for the performance of the contract with the controller, such as the social network followers of the client, this is a breach of the GDPR and the processor may be fined2. The fact that the data base is password-protected does not affect the applicability of the GDPR or the security principle, as the data is still personal data that can identify data subjects. The storage limitation principle also requires that personal data be kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed, so deleting the data base after the audit does not make the situation compliant. References: 1: Article 28 of the GDPR 2: Guidelines 07/2020 on the concepts of controller and processor in the GDPR 3: Understanding Controller-to-Processor Agreements - GDPR Advisor 4: New Guidelines on Data Controllers and Processors: Time to Review Data Processing Agreements : Article 4 of the GDPR : Article 5 of the GDPR