According to an article in The Economist, The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.’ As more businesses move online, the amount of data online is also increasing exponentially. Consequently, the incidences of cybercrimes are on the rise.
The threat is real, and the danger is imminent.
According to the famed Warren Buffet, Cyber-crime is the number one problem for mankind. And the quote is seeming prophetic, after 1.76 billion records were compromised worldwide, in January 2019 alone.
This clearly indicates that if you don’t ensure cybersecurity, it is going to cost you a great deal.
In fact, simply Ransomware compromise is slated to cost companies all over the world around $11.5 billion by 2019. That’s a very deep hole to be burnt into one’s pocket.
What is data-centric security?
Nearly all of the traditional security technologies currently in existence focus on the physical location of data, like a PC or a server. But there is a flaw. As soon as the data is moved somewhere else, you need another solution. And till that time, the data is left simply unprotected.
Data-centric security, however, is a different ball game altogether. It focuses on the exact data to be protected, and the files containing sensitive information.
The security is aimed at the data itself, not where the location. Hence, it is a much safer bet for highly sensitive data, and that is why it is becoming the more preferred type of cyber-security for businesses.
How to ensure data-centric cyber-security?
Every business organization is different. They have different needs, different goals, and different methods of working. Every business, however, needs to come to a consensus on the unique solution that will address their business needs and security concerns.
Here are four ways for every organization to ensure data centricity in their cyber-security:
1. Central Management
In the words of the famous architect Peter Eisenman, The more centralized the power, the fewer compromises need to be made in architecture.’
Quite like architecture, businesses are discovering the overwhelming advantages of having central management controlling all business data. For one, it ensures the data obeys the company security policy and protocol.
This helps in:
- Giving the business complete and unchallenged control over any sensitive data or file from the time it is generated
- Revoking or granting access to sensitive data almost immediately
- Every activity is closely monitored
- Adequate allowance for proper auditing and accounting
Once the central management takes control of the data, the data cannot be accessed or tampered with from any decentralized or unauthorized source. Which, in turn, ensures data-centric security.
2. Plugging the gaps
Traditional data protection methods like device-centric protection or network-centric protections leave a lot to be desired. The data security is not fool-proof and has certain fractures, that can be exploited to significant effect by seasoned cybercriminals.
A primary reason for the incapabilities of traditional methods is that once you need to transfer data between two devices or networks, you must first decrypt it. In layman terms, it means you must strip the data of its security protocols, and keep it exposed, even if for a few seconds, in order to transfer it.
And this momentary lapse of security is what the cyber criminals seek, and take advantage of.
To Ensure data-centric security, you must perform:
- 100% Data encryption, outside the company network
- 100% Data encryption, in company server and platform
Both of these are missing in conventional methods. By plugging these gaps in the traditional methods, you can put in place a data-centric security protocol in place.
3. Encryption management and automation
Company data is always accessed and used by employees. That is why, once you encrypt your data, you have to look for ways your employees can use them without compromising security.
The employees must be able to use the files they need and access the requisite databases to ensure the smooth functioning of the company, without sabotaging security. This is where automation is stepping in.
Automation helps in:
- Eliminating employee error
- Reducing the number of steps for an employee
- Ensuring compliance with protocols
- Guarding against data breach
Encrypting data and automating steps in your data protection protocol is a move in the right direction for data-centric security.
4. Flexibility
Albert Einstein once quoted, The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.’
Nearly a hundred years later, data-centric security protocols must also be adaptable to change, if they are to succeed.
Within a business organisation, there may be millions of data types and thousands of data policies. Every data type may require very different treatment and operations.
So, a data-centric security protocol must be amenable to change and must be able to accommodate the changing nature of data and its uses within the organization.
Organizations should be able to do permutations and combinations with their data and data types at will, as per the business requirements, without compromising security.
Thus, a foremost requirement of ensuring data-centric security is creating a flexible and adaptable cyber-security plan.
5. Employee training
Properly training employees is the final step towards ensuring your data-centric cybersecurity protocols actually work real-time. Your employees must understand and appreciate the reasons why those protocols are there in the first place.
A poorly trained employee who does not understand the long-term goal of a data-centric approach may find it circuitous and laborious. They may try to sidestep and bypass the security measures, leading to the compromise of sensitive data, or unauthorized grant of data access.
Proper training is required so that the employees know exactly what they should and should not do with respect to sensitive data. If possible, help them to acquire cybersecurity certifications to bolster.
The Future Ahead
As the world is moving online, cybercrime is showing no signs of letting up any time soon. In a recent study by the University of Maryland, hackers worldwide are now attacking computers at the rate of 1 attack every 39 seconds.
Cybercrime is evolving and it is getting substantially more expensive to tackle its after-effects. The average cost of dealing with the effects of cybercrime has risen to $13 million per company in 2019, from $11.6 million in 2018.
It is time to make the unanimous shift to data-centric security from the existing traditional methods. Cybercriminals and online hackers are getting smarter – it’s time we followed suit.
