You don’t have to be new to the cybersecurity game to appreciate a multi-point guide on data security, the underlying goal of all security outcomes and solutions. However, if you do happen to be one of the many startups or small businesses just getting their feet wet in cybersecurity, this guide will show you where to start when it comes to data protection. And, if you’re a more mature organization dealing with bloat and overwhelm, this guide can help you see what’s essential.
What Is Data Security?
Data security is everything pertaining to protecting your sensitive digital assets from unauthorized tampering, access, or loss — in other words, cyberattacks. As Fortra noted in a previous blog, “Data security encompasses the actual solutions an organization puts in place to protect digital data at all points — from endpoints to networks to the perimeter.” In other words, all the solutions in your cybersecurity stack.
Data Security: The Three Steps
A good data security strategy encompasses three primary steps.
Step 1: Data Discovery and Redaction
Data discovery and redaction involves finding and hiding your sensitive data. For example, do you know where all downloaded content from your CRM is hiding? Data discovery or finding these loose bits of “shadow data” is the first step in data protection and labelling them by sensitivity is the second. Next, if there are pieces of info you no longer need (like SSNs on an I-9 form), redact them so you can store the form but not keep sensitive information out in the open.
Step 2: Data Classification
Data classification is the ongoing process of labelling all data assets by sensitivity and putting policies in place to protect those various designations accordingly. It categorizes based on:
Context: Do the creators or file location give any indication as to its sensitivity?
Content: Are there pre-defined keywords categorized as classified? Or a certain numerical pattern (like those found in SSNs)?
User’s choice: By training your employees to understand data privacy and compliance requirements, they themselves can classify and tag the files they handle based on sensitivity.
Step 3: Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Data loss prevention is a collection of strategies around securing your sensitive data, no matter where it travels. As NIST defines it, DLP is “A systems [sic] ability to identify, monitor, and protect data in use (e.g. endpoint actions), data in motion (e.g. network actions), and data at rest (e.g. data storage).” DLP policies are often crafted around compliance requirements or data privacy laws and protect not only confidential customer information but internal intellectual property as well.
Is Data Privacy the Same as Data Security? Or Data-Centric Security?
These data protection terms might get bantered about in the same circles, but data privacy and data security are unique, as is the related topic of data-centric security. Here’s how it all plays out:
Data Privacy: Data privacy refers to the laws governing how private, sensitive data is handled, stored, and used. Think of compliance regulations like GDPR, CPRA, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
Data Security: Data security is where the rubber meets the road. If data privacy sets the rules, data security is the collection of internal cybersecurity tools and policies that carries them out.
Data-Centric Security: Data-centric security is a laser-like focus within data security that refers only to the methods used to protect actual data points, not shore up the architecture that houses them. DLP, data classification, identity and access management, and data governance all fit within a data-centric approach.
What Puts Data Security at Risk? And How Fortra Can Help.
Data security risks today may look a lot uglier and more sophisticated than they did a few years back. And yet some things never change. Here are a few data protection threats to watch for, both old and new.
Compliance violations and untrained employees | The two go hand-in-hand. Fortra security awareness training (SAT) helps users know how to handle sensitive data so it’s safe from prying eyes and compliance auditors.
AI-powered ransomware | With AI force-multiplying the power of ransomware, Fortra’s ransomware solutions offer enterprises a multi-layered defensive approach.
Shadow data in the cloud | Fortra’s cloud DLP solutions provide data protection in the cloud, allowing you to maintain classification in cloud repositories and apps.
Data threats may be an inescapable part of doing business today, but with the right data security strategy, data breaches don’t have to be.
Ready for the next step in your data security journey?
Check out Data Classification and Data Loss Prevention (DLP): A Comprehensive Data Protection Strategy.