It should really go without saying that data security is a fundamental consideration for every single business.

With the number of data records lost or stolen globally since 2013 exceeding 9.7 billion, clearly that message hasn’t quite sunk in for some yet. With the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) now in full force for over two years for European companies or anyone handling European individuals’ data, the stakes for failing to adequately protect data have now got even higher.

Data security is complex. It needs to cover multiple channels to be effective and when it isn’t implemented properly with gaps left unprotected, organisations can quickly find themselves at the sharp end of a data protection breach.

The riskiest points for any business when it comes to data security are where interactions are made outside the organisation’s boundaries – namely email, web and the cloud.

For email, the issue is two-fold. Firstly, there is a high risk of data loss from employees accidentally sending information they shouldn’t over email. We’ve all seen the stories of people’s personal data being emailed to an entire contact book.

Secondly, email is an easy access point for criminals. Whether its phishing or CEO Fraud our reliance on email and trust of it is easily manipulated by hackers.

The web’s data security issues are plentiful, from the risk of malware to employees accessing dodgy websites, there’s a lot of harm a business can come to through the internet.

The cloud, meanwhile, has similar risks to emails in that employees can use cloud apps to share information, while gaps in cloud infrastructure and data centre security can be exploited by criminals. We frequently see reports of data being exposed in unprotected Amazon S3 buckets, for example.

 

Data Security Solution

There are lots of tools out there to help deal with these data protection challenges individually, but to secure data all these solutions need to work together. It’s no use quarantining emails with suspicious links, but still allowing web browsers to load the link if anyone does accidentally click it.

Why would you block the office manager from sending sensitive files over messaging apps, but let them do so over email?  Data protection needs to be comprehensive and consistent across the organisation and across different access points. That means that taking a platform-based approach is likely to be your best bet.

Censornet platform dashboard - showing all of our security products in one place

A data security solution that integrates web, email and cloud security allows you to not only more efficiently manage security but will also make your security posture more robust.

Each tool will work on its own, for example, DLP-style scanning of inbound and outbound email (and attachments) from email security, files uploaded/downloaded/attached/sent/shared through cloud apps through CASB, or over the web via web security, but can also work together to make sure that policies are consistently applied across the organisation.

Data security and data breach prevention methods might be complicated, but it is one of the most important things companies need to get right when it comes to IT. Instead of being daunted by the prospect, find a data security solution that integrates all the tools you need and let it protect your data, while you focus on the day job.

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