Are you looking for the next big thing to help secure your digital assets? The answer is easier than you think and already works for you… meet Kevin.
Kevin is a data creator in your organization and, while you are investing in technology to stop him, protect him and keep him from bringing disaster upon your organization, he may be key to the single biggest improvement in your company’s security posture.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the buzz and automation is now being contemplated throughout the organization. ZDNet says “Revenue for cognitive and artificial intelligence systems will hit $12.5 billion in 2017, up 59.3% from a year ago (according to IDC). Through 2020, these AI systems will top $46 billion, up 54.4% on a compound annual growth rate.” (Source: ZDNet). Spending is up and 44% of executives believe artificial intelligence’s most important benefit is automated communications that provide data to be used in decision-making (Source: Narrative Science).
Don’t get me wrong, there are real benefits to having a machine sift through the overwhelming number of security signals and log files currently acting as a DDoS attack on your security analysts. However, what happens when we employ AI to do something an employee CAN, and should, do as part of their daily routine? What happens when we use automation to determine something a data creator already knows? The answer is simple; we waste time and money. We also introduce the possibility for error where little existed before.
Consider this…
- Kevin is creating data.
- Kevin knows the content and context of his data.
- Kevin should be able to communicate the confidentiality of the data to the organization by assigning a correct classification to the document.
Kevin knows the truth about the data he is creating, so why are organizations spending time and money artificially determining, or guessing at, something he already knows?
The answer is consistent for every security professional I have talked to… “we don’t trust him.” Hmmm. If you can’t trust employees to communicate the confidentiality of their data then you have hired the wrong candidates and should set up a meeting with HR immediately.
We, at Boldon James, believe you have the right employees and they want to do the right thing. Educate them, engage them and empower them with a simple tool like Boldon James Classifier. Let your Kevins tell you what they already know; the content, context and importance of the data they are creating.
With your digital assets correctly labeled, classification information is available to the ENTIRE security apparatus, improving the efficiency your system.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) no longer has to guess if something is confidential.
- Your email security system no longer has to determine if an email is for internal use only.
- Your encryption technology can encrypt real secrets not grandma’s cookie recipe.
You can stop wasting time and money protecting non-critical data and reallocate funds to the most important assets!
Kevin IS the next big thing to help secure your digital assets. Involve him in the process! Capture what he knows about HIS data. Don’t guess at his intentions with AI; know the truth using end user driven data classification! Educate, engage and empower EVERY Kevin, EVERY day to classify EVERY file and EVERY email and tell me how this doesn’t provide the single biggest improvement to your security posture.