SECURITY NEWS
Protecting an organisation ’ s most valuable asset : Why a solid data management and protection strategy is non-negotiable
and anomaly detection . Because there are generally few changes from backup to backup , your solution must be able to report on an out-of-character increase in change rates for instance , as this could indicate an anomaly and will allow you to take swift action .
3 . When it comes to recovery , the rule of thumb is that the sooner you know there is an issue , the sooner you can recover from it – by the time you receive that ransom note it ’ s too late . Systems and solutions must be tested regularly and it ’ s also important to ensure that employees know how to use the solution and are comfortable with it , as there is an important people element when it comes to data management .
Pieter Engelbrecht – Datacentrix Business Unit Manager : Data Management Solutions , highlights why a solid data management and protection strategy is more important than ever before , as well as offering advice on best practices and how to implement this type of strategy .
With businesses in today ’ s digital economy having access to more data than ever before , a good data management and protection strategy is critical . Not only does proper data management allow for intelligent , informed decision making , it also reduces the risk of data loss and , importantly , ensures that valuable data is secure and protected from theft and attacks .
We ’ ve seen many examples recently , both global and local , on what can happen when your data falls into the wrong hands . Unfortunately South African companies are being increasingly targeted by cybercriminals , a point that has become more and more apparent over the past two years , as businesses had to rapidly make changes to their environments for remote working .
Ransomware is a particular challenge locally , with Mimecast reporting earlier this year in its State of Email Security 2022 report that 60 % of South African companies had experienced a ransomware attack over the previous 12 months , a statistic that had increased from 47 % in 2020 .
The truth is that it ’ s a case of when an organisation will be affected by a ransomware attack , not if and therefore , similar to physical home security , it must-have measures in place that make it more difficult for would-be criminals to gain access .
Best practices for data security
There are three best practices required for data management , namely : protection , detection and recovery . 1 . From a protection point of view , businesses must ensure that they have three copies of data at the very least – two copies on different storage types and a third copy held off site on immutable storage .
2 . For detection , it is important that any data backup and recovery solution implemented includes malware scanning
Encryption is also more important now than ever before , because even if data is taken , it is then more difficult for the cybercriminal to decrypt without the correct keys .
How do you go about executing a data management and protection strategy ?
A solid data management and protection strategy requires several considerations .
Firstly , the company must get to grips with and understand its data . Around 14-17 % of people ’ s data is ‘ clean ’ data , which is the important and valuable information and approximately 35 % is redundant , obsolete and trivial ( ROT ) data , or information that has little or no value to an organisation any longer , although it is still retained . The balance is dark data , which is generally unstructured data that is unused , unknown and untapped .
There are clear risks in not knowing your data , particularly in light of the Protection of Personal Information ( POPI ) Act , from both a security and regulatory perspective and so this is one of the biggest challenges to data protection and management .
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