One of the biggest challenges businesses face today is securing sensitive data. Companies hold an abundance of data, which is growing by the day. This makes it difficult to manage. Moreover, there are plenty of hackers that are dying to get a hold of your sensitive information. We all certainly have a battle on our hands, and a lot of businesses are failing to win, as they are making common mistakes when it comes to sensitive data classification and other approaches. Below, we look at typical errors so that you can avoid them.
Not knowing where sensitive data resides – This is definitely one of the biggest mistakes made by companies today. If you do not know where your data is, you are not going to be able to protect it. This is why data classification is so important, but the first step in classification is to get to grips with where all of your data is.
Failing to protect from internal threats – Did you know that employees cause the vast majority of data breaches? This is often because they are careless or not up to date with security measures, although it can be for malicious motives. By training staff up appropriately, you can minimise the number of insider breaches.
Failing to classify and protect data effectively – Data classification tools are only going to be effective if the classifications are. You need to ensure that every piece of data you hold is carefully classified. Moreover, once that is done, you need to implement appropriate controls for each sector of data. Of course, restricted data is going to need the highest level of control. Access should be on a need-to-know basis and the likes of encryption must be in use.
Not adding security layers to data shared in the cloud – Finally, once you have carried out sensitive data classification, you must ensure that you implement several data controls, tracking, and protection to files that are stored in the cloud. Make it somewhat of a maze for any cyber criminal to get access.