The amount of information people share online with different businesses and companies, the more concerned they are about their data privacy. Customers worry about where their information is stored, who has access to it, and how it is used.
Moreover, the volume of data collected and stored continues to expand greatly, making a data security strategy an increasingly critical concern. Company processes are becoming progressively dependent on data, and even a minor interruption or the loss of a tiny quantity of information can have significant repercussions for that firm.
Data protection keeps sensitive data secure while keeping it from being damaged, lost, or corrupted due to data breaches.
This article gives an overview of Data Protection Strategies so you can better protect the data you collect and store by covering the following key topics:
What is a Data Protection Strategy?
A data protection strategy systematically attempts to incorporate all of a firm’s data protection policies to secure its data. The protection strategy for data loss prevention can become standardized with data protection laws, which can also assist in protecting the privacy of clients and staff as well as proprietary information.
Typically, data protection strategies consist of multi-step methods that outline how security measures are installed and updated. It aims to keep the trace of sensitive and important data to a minimum and protect data vital to business continuity and regulation. Notably, companies implement data protection strategies to stop cyber criminals from performing successful data breaches or having unauthorized access to their client’s data.
The repercussions of a data breach or an event involving the loss of data have the potential to destroy a company. Failure to implement security measures can result in monetary losses, a loss of credibility and the faith of customers, and legal liabilities. These legal liabilities come from most enterprises today bound to at least some data protection laws. So, safeguarding sensitive information has become one of the primary obstacles that organizations must overcome during the digital transformation process in businesses of all kinds.
For more information, check out our complete guide on data security concepts.
Why is it Important to Have a Data Protection Strategy?
The volume of data created and saved continues to grow exponentially. This massive growth of data creation and the reliance on this data have increased the importance of data protection as the main objective of almost every enterprise.
Businesses that exhibit transparency, consistency, and security earn their clients’ confidence in their ability to handle sensitive data. Trust must first be established, and one of the foundational pillars of that trust is a strategic dedication to providing a data privacy strategy. Because of this, you must integrate the security of personal data into the fundamental aspects of a company’s overall strategic plan.
One of the most important aspects of a data protection strategy is ensuring it is possible to retrieve data when it becomes corrupted or lost. The term for this process is known as disaster recovery. The safeguarding of data against unauthorized access with access controls and the maintenance of data confidentiality are two further essential aspects of data protection.
Key Data Protection Regulations that Require Data Protection Strategies
Governments around the world see the growth in data collection and storage within enterprises. As a result, they have passed data protection regulations to safeguard the sensitive data of their constituents. We outline two significant pieces of legislation:
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is the protection strategy with the strictest data protection and security standards. Despite being conceived and approved by the European Union, it imposes requirements on firms located anywhere in the world that target consumers or collect data. Those who break the data protection regulation’s security and privacy rules face severe fines, with the potential for those fines to total millions of euros.
The European Union realized the importance of establishing contemporary safeguards. Following its adoption by the European Parliament in 2016, the GDPR went into effect on May 25th, 2018. You are subject to the GDPR if you process the private information of individuals who are citizens of the European Union or if you offer products and services to citizens of the European Union.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, or CCPA, provides consumers with better control over the sensitive data firms gather about them. The guidelines accompanying the CCPA include directions about how you should implement the law.
This Act covers the following legal protections for consumers:
- The right to be informed about any PII data a company collects.
- The way sensitive data is handled and shared.
- The right to remove any of their PII sensitive data is subject to certain limitations.
- The ability to forgo selling their private details by exercising their right to opt out.
- The right to protection against discrimination if they exercise their rights under the CCPA.
Because of the CCPA, companies must provide customers with specific notices that clarify how they handle their customers’ personal information. Moreover, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) applies to many enterprises.
Data Protection Strategy Best Practices
Data protection goes beyond GDPR and CCPA compliance. To create an effective data protection strategy for your organization, use these three best practices:
1. Inform Stakeholders
Ensure that the key stakeholders support the data protection strategy. This feature ensures that staff will follow the strategy and implement data protection across the organization, not just IT.
2. Record all Data
Create a data storage inventory of all company data. This option permits data mapping and better administration.
3. Perform Regular Risk Assessments
Risk assessments hold the organization accountable and enable it to detect dangers or flaws. Therefore, you should conduct these assessments regularly.
Data Protection Strategy with Satori
Data security is more important than ever. It is essential to ensure that important data remains safe from corruption as enterprises grow more reliant on the data they collect and store. With Satori you can create a data protection strategy that secures your data. To learn more take a look at our data security guide and book a demo with one of our experts.
