Data security is the safeguarding of physical and digital data against any unauthorized access or destruction. It is a requirement for all businesses as it ensures that personal information is accessible to authorized users, and remains confidential, secure, and intact. It also helps to in preventing the loss or compromising of crucial information in the event of cyber-attacks. A reliable data protection program is a combination of tools that will ensure these six fundamental best practices:
Security and authentication are crucial to any data security plan. Whether your data are at rest or in transport you must ensure that only authorized users have access to your data using credentials, such as encryption keys or passwords or other methods of authentication, such as multi-factor identification (MFA) in which the user is required to provide more than data security one form of verification.
The company should be able to identify its application data, and understand what data is sensitive and in a particular state, such as “at rest”, “in transit” or “in use”.
As data accumulation increases, it can be difficult for companies to keep up with all the sensitive information. It is essential to adhere to the principle of least privilige which states that only the information that users need for their jobs should be provided. By limiting permissions down to the minimum, you can improve your overall security and reduce storage and bandwidth costs. Additionally your data usage policy should define the way data is used and set the consequences for any violations.