The types of information that require special attention, care and protection can differ greatly from one organization to another. Sensitive data can include anything from highly personal information to intellectual property that’s the crown jewels of an enterprise. It may also be regulated data, also known as dark data, which is stored in silos or shadow servers or other data streams. These are often more at risk of breach or leakage.
Protecting sensitive data involves implementing the principles of management of the lifecycle of information to control the data from its initial creation to its eventual disposal. It begins with a thorough inventory and classification of all data assets. Then, it moves to monitor the entire data environment for any anomalous activity that could indicate the possibility of a security risk, such as vulnerabilities in supply chain processes or insider threats.
What is considered to be sensitive is determined by the legal framework, regulatory framework and privacy policy. For example, PII is a key attack for cybercriminals as it could be used to take someone’s identity, open credit accounts and make fraudulent purchases. The loss of this kind of information can have serious consequences for people. In addition, it could jeopardize the trust and brand reputation of organizations found to have erred in handling PII information during an incident of software per data room virtuale data breach or security-related incident.
In addition to PII, other categories of sensitive data include financial information (such as bank account numbers or credit card details) Health information that is proprietary and confidential, technical data that’s subject to patents and copyrights, as well business-specific data that is protected by internal policies and procedures. Data that’s regulated and subject to compliance requirements may also be considered sensitive, just as dark or unstructured data like documents and emails.
To safeguard sensitive information it is necessary to establish a multi-faceted strategy to protect data that includes the protection of physical, virtual and cloud data assets. It may also involve encryption, data redaction or other methods to decrease the chance that sensitive information is compromised.
Establish strict guidelines and policies for employees to follow. This will ensure that only authorized workers can access data that needs extra security. For instance, make sure that new hires sign an agreement to adhere to your company’s confidentiality and security standards before they’re given access to sensitive information. Also, ensure that you have a process in place which ensures that anyone who leaves your company or transfers to another department doesn’t bring sensitive information with them. This could include terminating passwords, obtaining identification cards and keys or other measures to prevent them from having access to sensitive information after leaving the premises. Inform employees about your company’s privacy plan and how important it is to safeguard sensitive information.
