Data Security Meaning And Definition

Data security is the process of safeguarding digital information throughout its entire life cycle to protect
it from corruption, theft, or unauthorized access. It covers everything—hardware, software, storage
devices, and user devices; access and administrative controls; and organizations’ policies and
procedures.

Data security uses tools and technologies that enhance visibility of a company's data and how it is being
used. These tools can protect data through processes like data masking, encryption, and redaction of
sensitive information. The process also helps organizations streamline their auditing procedures and
comply with increasingly stringent data protection regulations.

A robust data security management and strategy process enables an organization to protect its
information against cyberattacks. It also helps them minimize the risk of human error and insider
threats, which continue to be the cause of many data breaches.

Why Is Data Security Important?

There are many reasons why data security is important to organizations in all industries all over the
world. Organizations are legally obliged to protect customer and user data from being lost or stolen and
ending up in the wrong hands. For example, industry and state regulations like the California Consumer
Privacy Act (CCPA), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security
Standard (PCI DSS) outline organizations’ legal obligations to protect data.

Data cybersecurity is also crucial to preventing the reputational risk that accompanies a data breach. A
high-profile hack or loss of data can result in customers losing trust in an organization and taking their
business to a competitor. This also runs the risk of serious financial losses, along with fines, legal
payments, and damage repair in case sensitive data is lost.

Benefits Of Data Security

What is data security? In a way, data security is easier to define by looking at the benefits, which are
explained in more detail below:
Keeps your information safe: By adopting a mindset focused on data security and implementing the
right set of tools, you ensure sensitive data does not fall into the wrong hands. Sensitive data can
include customer payment information, hospital records, and identification information, to name just a
few. With a data security program created to meet the specific needs of your organization, this info
stays safe and secure.

Helps keep your reputation clean: When people do business with your organization, they entrust their
sensitive information to you, and a data security strategy enables you to provide the protection they
need. Your reward? A stellar reputation among clients, partners, and the business world in general.

Gives you a competitive edge: In many industries, data breaches are commonplace, so if you can keep
data secure, you set yourself apart from the competition, which may be struggling to do the same.

Saves on support and development costs: If you incorporate data security measures early in the
development process, you may not have to spend valuable resources for designing and deploying
patches or fixing coding problems down the road.

Data Security vs Data Privacy

Data security and data privacy both involve protecting data, but they are different. Data security entails
controlling access to data using stark, black-and-white terms. For example, a data security policy may
dictate that no one other than someone troubleshooting a database issue is allowed to see customer
payment information—period. In that way, you reduce your chances of suffering a data security breach.

Data privacy, on the other hand, involves more subtle, strategic decisions around who gets access to
certain kinds of data. Using the same example, another organization may say, “Well, it may help the
development team to know if a lot of customers have been paying using PayPal. Then they could decide
whether it would be wise to start accepting Payoneer, Skrill, or Stripe, too. Let’s give them access to
payment info for the next two weeks.”

When it comes to data security in cloud computing or on-premises environments, these kinds of
decisions fall more under the purview of data privacy.

Learn more about Cloud Data Protection: Secure what you store in the cloud.

Best Practices For Ensuring Data Security And Privacy

Why is data security important? Primarily, it keeps your data secure and builds confidence among your
customers. Here are some best practices that have been effective for other organizations:
Secure your information: This means managing who has access and encrypting your data. Only people
who need it to perform essential functions should have access, and information should be encrypted as
it goes back and forth between the database and their computer or device.

Prepare ahead of time for threats: You can get ready for a potential data security incident by testing
your system, educating employees, devising an incident management plan, and creating a data recovery
plan.

Delete data you are not using: You should get rid of both digital and physical copies of data you no
longer need. In this way, you reduce the chances of a hacker discovering it and using it for profit.

Is Your Data Loss Prevention Solution (DLP) Failing?

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Types Of Data Security

Organizations can use a wide range of data security types to safeguard their data, devices, networks,
systems, and users. Some of the most common types of data security, which organizations should look
to combine to ensure they have the best possible strategy, include:

Types of data security

Encryption

Data encryption is the use of algorithms to scramble data and hide its true meaning. Encrypting data
ensures messages can only be read by recipients with the appropriate decryption key. This is crucial,
especially in the event of a data breach, because even if an attacker manages to gain access to the data,
they will not be able to read it without the decryption key.

Data encryption also involves the use of solutions like tokenization, which protects data as it moves
through an organization’s entire IT infrastructure.
Data erasure

There will be occasions in which organizations no longer require data and need it permanently removed
from their systems. Data erasure is an effective data security management technique that removes
liability and the chance of a data breach occurring.

Data masking

Data masking enables an organization to hide data by obscuring and replacing specific letters or
numbers. This process is a form of encryption that renders the data useless should a hacker intercept it.
The original message can only be uncovered by someone who has the code to decrypt or replace the
masked characters.

Data resiliency

Organizations can mitigate the risk of accidental destruction or loss of data by creating backups or
copies of their data. Data backups are vital to protecting information and ensuring it is always available.
This is particularly important during a data breach or ransomware attack, ensuring the organization can
restore a previous backup.

Biggest Data Security Risks

Organizations face an increasingly complex landscape of security threats with cyberattacks being
launched by more sophisticated attackers. Some of the biggest risks to data security include:

Accidental data exposure

Many data breaches are not a result of hacking but through employees accidentally or negligently
exposing sensitive information. Employees can easily lose, share, or grant access to data with the wrong
person, or mishandle or lose information because they are not aware of their company’s security
policies.

Phishing attacks

In a phishing attack, a cyber criminal sends messages, typically via email, short message service (SMS), or
instant messaging services, that appear to be from a trusted sender. Messages include malicious links or
attachments that lead recipients to either download malware or visit a spoofed website that enables the
attacker to steal their login credentials or financial information.

These attacks can also help an attacker compromise user devices or gain access to corporate networks.
Phishing attacks are often paired with social engineering, which hackers use to manipulate victims into
giving up sensitive information or login credentials to privileged accounts.

Insider threats

One of the biggest data security threats to any organization is its own employees. Insider threats are
individuals who intentionally or inadvertently put their own organization’s data at risk. They come in
three types:

Compromised insider: The employee does not realize their account or credentials have been
compromised. An attacker can perform malicious activity posing as the user.

Malicious insider: The employee actively attempts to steal data from their organization or cause harm
for their own personal gain.

Nonmalicious insider: The employee causes harm accidentally, through negligent behavior, by not
following security policies or procedures, or being unaware of them.

Malware

Malicious software is typically spread through email- and web-based attacks. Attackers use malware to
infect computers and corporate networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in their software, such as web
browsers or web applications. Malware can lead to serious data security events like data theft,
extortion, and network damage.

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks pose a serious data security risk for organizations of all sizes. It is a form of
malware that aims to infect devices and encrypt the data on them. The attackers then demand a ransom
fee from their victim with the promise of returning or restoring the data upon payment. Some
ransomware formats spread rapidly and infect entire networks, which can even take down backup data
servers.
Cloud data storage

Organizations are increasingly moving data to the cloud and going cloud-first to enable easier
collaboration and sharing. But moving data to the cloud can make controlling and protecting it against
data loss more difficult. The cloud is critical to remote working processes, where users access
information using personal devices and on less secure networks. This makes it easier to accidentally or
maliciously share data with unauthorized parties.

Critical Data Security Solutions

There is a wide range of solutions available to help organizations protect their information and users.
These include:

Access controls

Access controls enable organizations to apply rules around who can access data and systems in their
digital environments. They do this through access control lists (ACLs), which filter access to directories,
files, and networks and define which users are allowed to access which information and systems.

Cloud data security

As organizations increasingly move their data to the cloud, they need a solution that enables them to:

Secure data while it is moving to the cloud

Protect cloud-based applications

This is even more crucial for securing dynamic working processes as employees increasingly work from
home.

Data loss prevention

Data loss prevention (DLP) enables organizations to detect and prevent potential data breaches. It also
helps them detect exfiltration and unauthorized sharing of information outside the organization, gain
improved visibility of information, prevent sensitive data destruction, and comply with relevant data
regulations.
Email security

Email security tools allow organizations to detect and prevent email-borne security threats. This plays an
important role in stopping employees from clicking on malicious links, opening malicious attachments,
and visiting spoofed websites. Email security solutions can also provide end-to-end encryption on email
and mobile messages, which keeps data secure.

Key management

Key management involves the use of cryptographic keys to encrypt data. Public and private keys are
used to encrypt then decrypt data, which enables secure data sharing. Organizations can also use
hashing to transform any string of characters into another value, which avoids the use of keys.

Data Security Regulations