Online Data and Security is a layer that guards our personal data from unauthorized access. This covers everything from encrypting the data you store to protecting your computer system from cyberattacks. It’s a vital aspect of our modern economy and daily lives. As the global economy continues to expand, people use social media and as technology keeps pace with the advancements in technology. An enormous amount of data is created and transmitted.
Data breaches are a common event that can harm both individuals and businesses. The average cost to remediate an incident is $8 million, according to an Ponemon Institute report. The cost of lost trust and brand equity could be higher.
To safeguard data the first step is to identify the risk level. This is accomplished by the data discovery and classification process. This includes scanning your data repositories, identifying sensitive information and placing labels on it to determine who is able to view it, and for what reason.
The next step is to prevent data exfiltration which is the stealing or leakage of sensitive information typically through a weak network connection. Firewalls are one way to do this, but there are accessible and simple-to-use tools in the market such as password managers, VPNs and encrypted storage solutions. It is important to enforce the use of strong passwords as well as requires multi-factor authentication for all services.
It is also important to have redundancy in place for preventing the loss of information due to natural disasters or attacks on local servers. This can be accomplished by physical replication to a remote data center or cloud environment, or by using software such as Acronis Cyber Protect.