Data is exploding. It’s being created, stored and shared everywhere, and that’s what makes discovering and managing it so challenging.
Many organizations don’t have the information to understand the risks they face. Protecting data has become more challenging as people work in new ways, including creating and sharing data across organizational or regional boundaries. Customers now need to protect sensitive information on devices, Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and cloud services, in addition to on-premises environments.
If your organization doesn’t know where your sensitive data resides, and you don’t have controls in place to ensure that all categories of data are handled appropriately, you could experience damage to critical business relationships due to unauthorized access to sensitive client data.
Plus, the number of regulations organizations must comply with to protect sensitive data continues to grow. The cost of not complying with data regulations could result in fines and lower credibility with regulators and customers.
Next steps
- Implement a strategy for protecting and managing sensitive data: Before your organization can protect and govern its sensitive data, you first have to know where it resides, how it is being used and shared, what the associated privacy and regulatory risks are, and even whether the data is still needed.
- Apply sensitivity labels to classify and protect your data: You’ll want to do this while making sure that user productivity and their ability to collaborate isn’t hindered. Make sure you understand your data landscape and identify sensitive data across your hybrid environment; apply flexible protection actions, including encryption, access restrictions and visual markings; and detect risky behavior so you can prevent accidental oversharing of sensitive information.
- Automatically retain, delete and store data and records: Make sure to also do so in a compliant manner so you don’t run afoul of regulators.