Six Essential Best Practices for Data Security
Data security is the safeguarding of digital and physical data against unauthorised access or destruction. It is a fundamental requirement for any business as it guarantees the confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of personal data to authorized users. It can also help protect against the loss or compromise of important information in the event of a cyberattack. A solid data security program is a blend of tools that ensure these six best practices essential to a successful program:
Security and authentication are crucial to any data protection strategy. When your data is in transit or at rest, you need to verify that only authorized users have access by using credentials, such as passwords or encryption keys, or other methods of authentication such as multi-factor identification (MFA) which requires the user has to provide more than one method of proof.
The company should be able of identifying the data it uses and be aware of what data is sensitive and in a specific state, such as “at rest”, “in transit” or “in use”.
As the amount of data collected increases it can be difficult for companies to keep track of all the sensitive information they collect. It’s important to follow the principle of least privilege which states that only the data that users need for their jobs must be made available. By reducing permissions to the minimum, you can enhance your overall security and cut down on storage and bandwidth costs. Lastly, your data usage policy should define how data is used and set the consequences for any violations.