At a level of the consumer, most people want their personal information to be protected when it’s in the hands of a company. This is a concern that extends to enterprise, where data security is essential to build trust among employees, customers, and stakeholders.\n<\/p>\n
Data security is the safeguarding of digital data from corruption, damage and theft throughout its entire life-cycle. It encompasses everything from storage and hardware devices to software, user devices and access control. It also involves ensuring that policies and procedures are in place to avoid data breaches.\n<\/p>\n
The most commonly used types of data protection include encryption, data masking and resiliency. Encryption of sensitive information is essential at all stages, including in storage, transit and use. It makes the information unreadable to unauthorized parties. Data masking is a method of replacing sensitive digital information with fake data for purposes such as database administration, research and development software testing, as well as user training.\n<\/p>\n
Resiliency involves having backups and copies to protect critical data that can be quickly restored in the event of an emergency or a breach. It also implies disposing of physical storage devices such as external drives and USBs (and even printed documents and documentation) regularly on a regular basis to avoid the information from being uncovered by hackers or falling into the wrong hands.\n<\/p>\n
Data security is a key priority for businesses because a public data breach can cost companies millions in recovering and forensic costs as well as compliance fines and long-lasting damage to reputation and loyalty. It’s also a mandatory requirement in that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act require companies to safeguard personal data.\n<\/p>\n