Data Security

The practice and technology of securing important and sensitive company and consumer data, such as
personal or financial information, is known as data protection or data security. Consider the sensitive
information that your organization gathers, stores, and handles. Hackers love financial or payment
details, intellectual property, and confidential personal information about your employees and
customers.

Why is data security important for a company?
Data protection refers to a company’s safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access to its files,
websites, and computers. Essentially, this procedure provides a safeguard against data loss or
corruption.
If you run a small or large business, data protection is critical and should not be ignored to prevent
security breaches. As a result, if you want to defend your business from cyber-attacks, one of the pieces
of advice you should consider is to introduce data security solutions as soon as possible.

Types of data security controls
Understanding the significance of data protection will assist you in developing a strategy to safeguard
the data. There are a variety of data management tools and processes that can help your business stay
productive while protecting data. The following are examples of data protection controls:
● Authentication: Authentication, in conjunction with authorization, is one of the most
recommended methods for improving data protection and preventing data breaches.
Authentication software checks whether a user’s credentials match those in your database.
Passwords, PINS, identification codes, a swipe card, or biometrics are some of the methods used
in today’s common authentication systems to recognize an authenticated person.
Single sign-on technology makes authentication easy by allowing an authenticated user access
to various devices, platforms, and apps with only one security token. What an authorized user
can do or see on your website or server is determined by authorization technologies.
● Access control: The method of authentication and authorization is known as access
management. The following are examples of access management systems:
o Discretionary access management (the least restrictive) requires users or associations to
gain access to information depending on their identities.
o Role-based access management, which grants users access to specific information based on
their organizational role.
o A system administrator may use mandatory access control to restrict access to all files.
● Tokenization: Tokenization replaces confidential data with arbitrary characters that are not
reversible algorithmically. Rather than being developed and decrypted by a mathematical
algorithm, the relationship between the data and its token values is stored in a secure database

lookup table (as in the case of encryption). The token that represents the actual data is used as a
substitution in various schemes. Although the actual data is stored on a distinct, protected
platform, the token representing the real data is used as a placeholder through various
networks.
● Encryption: Data encryption software works by converting plain text into encrypted ciphertext
using a cypher and an encryption key. The cypher data would be unreadable to an unauthorized
user. Only a person with an activated key will decrypt the data after that. Encryption is used to
secure data stored at rest as well as data shared between accounts, mobile devices, and the
cloud (called data in transit). Protecting the sensitive management processes, managing a safe,
off-site encryption backup, and limiting access are all things that must be done safely with
encryption keys.
● Backups & recovery: Protecting the sensitive management processes, managing a safe, off-site
encryption backup, and limiting access are all things that must be done safely with encryption
keys. Making a copy of the files and saving it on a different device or medium, such as a
cassette, disc, or the cloud, is what a data backup means. You can then use your backup to
restore missing files.
● Data masking: Data masking applications obscures data by using proxy characters to obscure
letters and numbers. Under the masking, the data is still there. And after an authorized recipient
gets the data does the program convert it back to its original state.

Data security trends
● AI: Since AI can handle vast volumes of data, it enhances the capabilities of a data protection
framework. Cognitive Computing, a branch of AI, accomplishes the same tasks as other AI
programs by simulating human thought processes. In the case of computer management, this
enables quick decision-making in times of crisis.
● Multi cloud security: As cloud capabilities have grown, the concept of data protection has
widened. Organizations now need more complex strategies to secure not just their records, but
also their software and proprietary business processes that operate on public and private
clouds.

Conclusion
Adding extra layers of data protection to your company’s equipment and systems could go a long way
toward preventing unauthorized access. While some may believe that hackers only target large
corporations, they generally target small businesses because they have simpler processes and less
security measures than large corporations. As a result, if you want to prevent data breaches, make sure
to prioritize your data protection requirements.