Seven Data Privacy and Security Technologies

All businesses deal with data that needs to be managed and secured. From banks that store clients’ personal and financial information to small businesses that store customers’ contact information, all organizations deal with data to some degree. So organizations need procedures and technologies to safeguard the collected, stored, and transmitted data. 

Breaches in data can result in lawsuits against the company, huge fines, and a damaged reputation. Threats can come from external and internal sources, so companies need to equip themselves accordingly. 

So if you are looking to employ and use technologies to safeguard your data, keep scrolling to read about the most common ones.   

1. Authentication 

Authentication is the process of identifying who the user is. In this process, the user must prove he is who he claims to be. The most common form of authentication is password use. Using a unique password to protect your data is essential because weak and frequently used passwords cause 81% of data breaches. But the problem is that these days people have hundreds of accounts and a lot of passwords to remember. 

So how to manage and remember all the passwords? The most common way to do that is with password managers. But the question arises, do you need a password manager, and are they safe to use? Most cyber security specialists agree that it is the most secure way to protect and manage all your passwords since it gets very tricky for a person to remember the password of every account. So you can use a password manager to store all your passwords in one place. Now all you have to do is remember a master password that unlocks your password manager. 

2. Authorization

Authorization is the process of verifying a user’s access to data. One common type of authorization is Access Control List or ACL. It contains a set of rules that permit or deny access to a certain digital environment. For instance, there are standard users and administrators in a computer system. If a standard user wants to change the device concerning its security, the ACL will not allow it. Whereas, if an administrator wants to change the device’s security, the ACL will permit it.

3. Firewall

Establishing a barrier between the two networks is essential to protect the internal network from the untrusted outside network. Setting up a firewall prevents unauthorized access to an internal network. A firewall uses a set of rules to monitor the outgoing and incoming traffic to identify and block malicious data packets. Some types of firewalls include proxy firewalls, stateful inspection firewalls, and packet filtering firewalls. 

A proxy firewall is a computer network with authority to connect to a server on behalf of the client. It examines the network traffic and protects it against threats. 

A stateful inspection firewall inspects the network traffic to determine which network packets should be allowed to enter via the firewall. Whenever a new packet of data arrives, it examines whether it is part of an existing connection. If it is, then the packet is further analyzed. If the new packet is not part of any existing connection, it is interpreted and evaluated according to the rules set for new connections.

A packet filtering firewall is a network security technique that controls the data going in and out of a network. It examines every packet and tests it according to a set of rules. 

4. Cloud Data Protection  

Cloud data protection is a model designed to protect either static or in-motion data in a cloud environment. The data stored in the cloud is protected through backups, disaster recovery, or cloud storage methods. These methods ensure organizational data remains in possession of the company in the event of a breach or loss of data. A good data protection program protects the data, prevents its loss, and identifies any malware threat so measures can be taken accordingly.  

5. Tokenization 

Tokenization refers to substituting a sensitive piece of data, such as a credit card number, into a random set of characters called a token. The tokens refer to the original data but cannot be used to guess the actual value since tokenization does not use a mathematical process to convert the data into a token. Tokens help to safeguard sensitive information such as account numbers, telephone numbers, or email addresses.

6. Big Data Encryption

Big data is a massive and complex set of data that is generated and transmitted through different sources. The organizational database contains sensitive information regarding the company and the personal information of its customers. Leakage or loss of both types of data will negatively impact the company. The organization will have to incur huge losses and face lawsuits which will negatively impact its reputation. Therefore, companies need to safeguard their database from internal and external threats. For this purpose, organizations use encryption techniques to translate their data into another form or a code so only people with access to a decryption key can read it. 

8. Data Access Governance and Data Subject Rights Management 

Data access governance is a security technology through which organizations can monitor sensitive data throughout the enterprise and implement policies to ensure only authorized personnel has access to sensitive information.

The Data Subject Rights Management Procedure(GDPR) outlines that the data subject has the following rights:

1. People have the right to be informed about the personal data that the organization is collecting about them. Companies also need to disclose the purpose of data collection. 
2. People have the right to know how their data is processed, why it is processed, who it is disclosed to, and for how long it will be stored. 
3. Individuals have the right to request the rectification of any incorrect personal data that the company has. 
4. People have the right to request the organization to delete their data.
5. An individual has the right to restrict the company from processing his data under certain conditions. 
6. A person has the right to ask the company to transfer their data to another service provider. 
7. Individuals have the right to ask the company to stop processing their data. 
8. A person has the right to object to a decision based on automated processing.

Conclusion 

Data is the most valuable asset of an organization. Therefore, it needs to be protected against cyber-attacks and human errors. Due to technological advancements, consumer awareness regarding the importance of data privacy has increased tenfold. 

The abovementioned technologies help companies protect their information against cyber-criminal attacks, internal threats, and accidental data loss.