At a consumer level many people want their personal information to be protected when it’s in the hands of a company. This is also true for the enterprise, where robust security of data is vital in retaining customers as well as building trust with employees from this source and other stakeholders.
Data security is the protection of digital data from corruption, damage and theft during its entire life cycle. It covers everything from storage and hardware devices to user devices, software and access control. It also includes ensuring policies and procedures are in place to avoid data breaches.
The most popular types of data security include encryption, data masking and resiliency. The encryption of sensitive data is a must at every stage, including storage, use and transit. It makes the information unreadable to unauthorized parties. Data masking is a complimentary method of encryption, replacing sensitive digital data with fake information. This is useful for database administration for software testing, research and development and user training.
Resiliency is about having backups of crucial data that can be restored quickly in the event of an emergency. It also requires the removal of physical storage media like USBs and external drives (and even printed documents and files) on a regular basis to ensure that the data is not exposed by hackers.
Data security is a priority for companies because the consequences of a major data breach can cost them millions in recovery costs and forensic costs. It can result in compliance fines, and result in lasting damage to their reputation and customer loyalty. It’s also a mandatory requirement as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act require companies to safeguard personal data.
