At the heart of every organisation lies its data. It is the oxygen that helps businesses make critical decisions, keep their operations running smoothly, and create better relationships with customers. Unfortunately, despite technology giving businesses the freedom to create, share and store volumes of data, over the years there have been several data breaches.

In 2022 alone, there were over 10,000 data breaches reported, exposing the personal information of over 1.5 billion people. Data leaks have a devastating impact on individuals and businesses. It leads to financial loss, identity theft, loss of customers, loss of future investments and lawsuits. That is why it is so crucial to safeguard data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction. Protecting your data means protecting the future of your business.

However, there are things that you can do to ensure that your data is protected against data leaks and breaches. This is by taking appropriate measures such as Data classification and data loss prevention (DLP).

What is Data classification?

Data classification is the process of categorising data based on its sensitivity and value to an organisation. This helps organisations identify and protect their most important data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.

There are three main types of data classification:

  • Public data: This data is not sensitive and can be shared with anyone.
  • Internal data: This data is sensitive but is only shared within an organisation.
  • Confidential data: This data is highly sensitive and should only be shared with authorised individuals.

There are many reasons why businesses and their employees need to focus on data classification. Some of the most important reasons include:

  • Compliance: Many industries are subject to regulations requiring them to protect certain data types. For example, financial institutions must protect customer financial data, and healthcare organisations must protect patient health information.
  • Security: Data classification helps to protect an organisation’s data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction. This can help to prevent data breaches, which can have a significant financial and reputational impact on an organisation.
  • Business continuity: Data classification can help to ensure that an organisation can continue to operate even in the event of a disaster. For example, if a natural disaster destroys an organisation’s data centre, the organisation can still access its most important data if it has been classified and backed up.

Data Classification begins with data discovery and redaction.

Discovery is the process of finding data that is stored in an organisation’s systems and applications. This can be a daunting task, as organisations often have large amounts of data that are stored in a variety of locations. However, it is important to find all of the data that is stored in an organisation, as any sensitive data that is not found may be at risk of being leaked.

Redaction is the process of removing sensitive data from documents or other electronic media. This can be done by masking, deleting, or encrypting the data. Redaction is important to protect sensitive data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.

Discovery and redaction can be done manually or using automated tools. Manual discovery and redaction can be time-consuming and error-prone, but it can be effective for small amounts of data. Automated discovery and redaction tools can be used to find and redact large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.

Data classification tools

Data classification tools are used to identify, tag, and protect sensitive data. They can help organisations comply with data protection regulations, prevent data loss, and improve data security.

  • Email classifiers are a type of data classification tool that can be used to scan emails for sensitive information. They can then prevent this information from being sent to the wrong person.
  • Metadata is data about data. It can provide context for classified data and help organisations make informed decisions about how to protect it.

Here are some of the benefits of using data classification tools:

  • Compliance: Data classification tools can help organisations comply with data protection regulations, such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and CMMC.
  • Data loss prevention: Data classification tools can help organisations prevent data loss by identifying and protecting sensitive data.
  • Data security: Data classification tools can help organisations improve data security by making it more difficult for unauthorised users to access sensitive data.

There are several methods that can be used to protect data from leaks. Some of the most common methods include:

  • Data encryption: Data encryption scrambles data so that it cannot be read without the correct key. This is a very effective way to protect data from unauthorised access.
  • Data access control: Data access control allows organisations to control who has access to certain types of data. This can be done by assigning permissions to users or groups of users.
  • Data loss prevention (DLP): DLP software can be used to monitor and control data movement within an organisation. This can help to prevent data from being leaked to unauthorised parties

What is Data loss prevention (DLP)

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a set of technologies and processes that are used to prevent data from being leaked to unauthorised parties. DLP solutions can monitor data movement within an organisation, identify sensitive data, and prevent it from being shared with unauthorised users.

Data classification and DLP work together to protect sensitive data from unauthorised access, theft, or loss. Siccura is a data protection alternative to DLP. It employs data classification, encryption, and access control to safeguard data from unauthorised actions like access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.

Here are some examples of how DLP policies can be used to protect data:

  • A company that develops software may implement a DLP policy that prohibits employees from sharing customer contact information with unauthorised parties.
  • A healthcare organisation may implement a DLP policy that prohibits employees from sharing patient health information with unauthorised parties.
  • A financial institution may implement a DLP policy that prohibits employees from sharing credit card numbers with unauthorised parties.

DLP policies are an important part of any data security program. By implementing DLP policies, organisations can help to protect their data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction.

Here are some additional tips for implementing data classification and DLP:

  • Create a data classification policy. This policy should define the different levels of sensitivity for data and the controls that should be applied to each level.
  • Classify your data. This can be done manually or using automated tools. Once your data is classified, you can implement the appropriate controls to protect it.
  • Monitor your data. This will help you to identify any potential breaches or unauthorised access.
  • Educate your employees. Employees should be aware of the importance of data security and the steps they can take to protect data.

Siccura: Comprehensive Data Protection for Businesses of All Sizes

These days, data is everything. Businesses big and small depend on it to keep the wheels turning, make informed choices, and form strong connections. That’s why safeguarding data from sneaky outsiders who might misuse or harm it is crucial. Protect your data, protect your business.

Siccura is the ultimate data protection solution for businesses of any size. Siccura was developed to crack down on the problems of data privacy and security. Unlike traditional DLP solutions, Siccura is a software that locks the data from the moment it is created, stored or shared, making it inaccessible to anyone other than the intended recipient.

By implementing Siccura across your business, you can be sure that no matter where your data goes, with or without your knowledge, it remains private, secure and in your control.

Siccura is designed to protect business data from threats including:

  • Data breaches: Data breaches are one of the most common threats to data security. A data breach occurs when unauthorised individuals gain access to sensitive data.
  • Malware: Malware is software that is designed to harm computers or steal data. Malware can be spread through email attachments, malicious websites, or USB drives.
  • Human error: Human error is one of the most common causes of data breaches. Employees may accidentally share sensitive data with unauthorised individuals, or they may fall victim to phishing scams.

Siccura’s solutions offer a variety of features to protect data from these threats, including:

  • Data encryption: Data encryption scrambles data so that it cannot be read without the correct key. This is a very effective way to protect data from unauthorised access.
  • Data access control: Data access control allows organisations to control who has access to certain types of data. This can be done by assigning permissions to users or groups of users.
  • Data loss prevention (DLP): DLP software can be used to monitor and control data movement within an organisation. This can help to prevent data from being leaked to unauthorised parties.
  • Employee training: Employee training is essential for protecting data from human error. Employees should be trained on the importance of data security and how to protect data from leaks.

So, to truly protect your data it’s important to start keeping your business data private, secure and in your control. To find out more about Siccura, and the range of solutions, contact us today!