The Three Pillars of Data Security
Data security guards the data of organizations and systems from misuse, access and modification. This helps prevent data breaches that can cause disruption to businesses and financial loss or penalties for compliance, as well as reputation damage. Modern approaches to data security consist of a combination of technologies, tools and best practices that focus on the three main pillars of security for data: Confidentiality (preventing information from being read or read without authorization), Integrity (ensuring that information is accurate and unaltered) and the availability (ensuring that the information is accessible when it is required).
The first step to ensuring data security is creating and maintaining an inventory and mapping of your data sets. Recording the data in your data centers, network-connected devices such as desktops, mobiles and desktops cloud services, and software applications is vital. It is also essential to take into account physical storage devices like external hard drives and USB sticks, and even deleted printed documents and documents. These are often neglected but they could contain a wealth of confidential information. Cybercriminals are likely to take advantage of this.
Once you have visibility of your data sets, you’ll need to identify sensitive data to determine where and how it’s in your infrastructure. This allows you to prioritize your security efforts, ensuring that the most valuable data is secured, while less critical information is accessible. This lets you adhere with the requirements of regulatory and industry like those applicable to the finance, health care and telecommunications industries.