Data security protects digital and physical data from the unauthorized access and destruction. It is a must for every business, since it ensures that personal data is available to authorized users and is safe, confidential and untouched. It also helps to prevent the loss of vital information due to an attack on the internet or a data breach. A solid data protection program is an array of tools to ensure six key best practices:
Authorization and authentication are essential to any data security strategy. When your data is at rest or in transport, you need to verify that only authorized users are able to access the data using credentials, like passwords or encryption keys, or other methods of authentication such as multi-factor identification (MFA), where the user has to provide more than one form of verification.
The business must be able to inventory the original site data it uses and know what data is sensitive and in a particular state, such as “at rest”, “in transit” or “in use”.
As data collection grows it can be difficult for organizations to keep on top of all the sensitive data they have. This is why it’s vital to adhere to the principle of least privilege, which states that users should be given only the data they need to do their job. By decreasing the number of permissions, you can increase security and reduce costs for storage and bandwidth. Your policy on data usage should also outline the way data is utilized and the consequences for any policy violation.
