Data security is a combination of tools, technologies and practices which work together to safeguard digital information. It guards against unauthorized access, disruptions, changes or destruction of data conformity with the organization’s risk management strategy. It is an essential element of safeguarding the important assets of your business while also meeting compliance requirements and ensuring the trust of your customers your brand.
The key elements of security of data include security, integrity, and confidentiality. Confidentiality is ensuring that the data can only be viewed by the intended recipients. This is achieved by encryption and secure communication channels. Integrity ensures that data remains unchanged and accurate, which can be done through data backup and validation processes. Access control policies and redundancy of data help ensure that data is always available.
Many attacks are based on the capability of attackers to gain access to sensitive information like medical records, intellectual properties and business-critical financial metrics. Secure data security protocols will protect this data from attack and help companies avoid costly consequences such as ransom payment, loss of revenue from interruptions in operations as well as incident response expenses, fines and legal charges.
Security solutions for data include encryption, data masking and redaction of sensitive files. Data security also involves authentication, which proves users are authentic and aren’t impersonating a system or another user. Biometric scans, multi-factor authentication and certificates are common methods of establishing the authenticity. These tools can be used together with encryption to add an extra layer of security.