Data Security

Most data security projects start in the wrong place: a product is bought first, then someone looks for what it should protect. The right order is the reverse. First you have to find where the sensitive data sits — in databases, on file servers, in shared folders, in an archive directory nobody has opened for years.

Discovery is followed by classification. Not all data warrants the same level of protection; personal data, trade secrets and public information are treated differently. Protection policies applied without classification end up either strict enough to stop the business or loose enough to prevent nothing.

The third layer is access monitoring. For databases in particular, seeing who accessed which data, when and with which query is decisive for both security and compliance. The burden of proof under data protection regulation is largely met with these records. Masking, meanwhile, makes it possible to work in test and development environments without spreading real data around.