Data security is the combination of policies, procedures, and technologies that safeguard data from unauthorised access or manipulation. Data security is also important to protect valuable information and ensuring that it’s disposed of properly when an organization doesn’t require it. It also helps businesses meet legal and compliance requirements which include data protection regulations like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA and PCI DSS, and prevents costly lawsuits, settlements, and reputational damage resulting from malicious or accidental activities such as mistakes made by employees and ransomware attacks.
Authentication is the process of precisely authenticating a person before they are allowed to access or alter any data. Authentication is the process of accurately identifying people before they can access or manipulate data. It is also necessary to keep records of all user activity and creating controls to limit the access and sharing of information, as well as to identify and monitor unusual or suspicious activity which could indicate an intrusion.
The classification of data allows organizations to prioritize and organize information based on its level of importance. It is crucial to determine the types of information you collect and only make use of what’s necessary for your business operations and goals. It is also important to have a plan in place to recover data in the event of is a system malfunction, a natural disaster or data breach. This typically involves storing complete backups, differential and increment copies of important data in locations physically more distinct from your primary storage device and networking.