Sensitive data is information that, when compromised, would cause great harm or loss. Examples can be personally identifiable information, sensitive financial and health care records, intellectual property or trade secretion. As digital technologies become more important, and in turn more vulnerable, it is going to be a constant concern whether you are an individual or organization that is obtaining sensitive data.
Why Sensitive Data Is Important
Identity Theft — Cybercriminals can use your most sensitive personal information, such as your social security number and credit card details, to steal your identity and commit fraud.
Monetary Damage: data breaches can cause huge losses to either organizations or individuals.
Loss of reputation: When sensitive data is exposed it can irreparably damage the reputation of an organization, and loss the trust of customers and clients.
Foreign adversaries may attempt to access sensitive national security, defense, and intelligence data.
Protecting Sensitive Data
The Data Protection Strategy To Protect Sensitive Data By taking the following steps, organizations and individuals can practice a comprehensive data protection strategy to help safeguard sensitive data.
Collect and save only what you need.
Data Encryption: Encrypt sensitive data so that it is unreadable by unauthorized individuals.
Access Controls: Apply strict access controls so that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive data.
Conduct Regular Security Audits Regular security audits help identify and fix vulnerabilities.
Train the employees: Train the employees on the security practices of data
Incident Response Plan: Have a plan for responding to data breaches and other security incidents.
Data retention policies: Define how long sensitive data should be kept and when it should be deleted.
Compliance of Data Privacy: Follow the applicable data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA
How Technology Plays a Role in Protecting Sensitive Data
The Importance of Technology in Data Protection Next-generation security technologies, e.g.:
Firewalls: These tools place boundaries on underlying networks from outside traffic, specifically unauthorized access of hosts.
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): Track network traffic for indications of unwanted behaviour.
Encryption – Encrypts data so that it is inaccessible in an unreadable format
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Protects sensitive data from being shared accidentally or on purpose.
With a full understanding of the risks that sensitive data present, combined with a reasonably diligent implementation, we can help ourselves — both organizations and individuals alike — all keep our most valuable secrets safe.
