Data security protects information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its lifecycle. It includes physical and logical security measures, such as encryption and access controls, to protect against cyber threats and breaches caused by bad actors, insider risks, and errors.  

This means deploying tools such as encryption and data masking that increase data visibility and compliance with regulations. Consumer awareness of data privacy has driven the implementation of regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA, making organizations prioritize data security.  

Types of data security measures include encryption, data erasure, data masking, and data resiliency.

• Encryption involves transforming data into an unreadable format to ensure confidentiality, with encryption keys allowing authorized access.  
• Data erasure securely overwrites data on storage devices to make it irrecoverable.  
• Data masking enables the use of real data for development while protecting personally identifiable information.  
• Data resiliency focuses on an organization's ability to withstand and recover from failures, ensuring data availability and minimizing downtime. 

Data security capabilities and tools address challenges in securing complex, distributed computing environments by focusing on data storage locations, access control, and risk mitigation. These tools include data discovery and classification, activity monitoring, vulnerability assessment, automated compliance reporting, and data security posture management.

They enable enterprises to centrally monitor and enforce policies, automate sensitive data identification, analyze data usage patterns, detect vulnerabilities, and maintain compliance with regulations. Data security tools go beyond discovery to uncover shadow data, prioritize risks, and facilitate continuous monitoring for proactive remediation and prevention efforts.

A recent Gartner report states, “Privacy and data breaches continue to be widespread due to lack of data security governance and operational frameworks for encryption.” Protecting Data from Breaches Requires an Encryption Key Management Strategy.

Understand The three key areas of enterprise-wide encryption key management. 

1. Employing data security governance principles

Fortanix provides data security governance principles by managing data security across multiple public clouds and hybrid environments through a scalable platform. Our solution separates encryption keys from data to prevent unauthorized access that could lead to breaches and compliance violations.

Fortanix ensures customers retain control of their encryption keys and data, meeting regulatory requirements for industries like finance, healthcare, and retail by offering FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated HSMs.  

Our solution goes beyond cloud-native key management services, providing robust protection for encryption keys, secrets, and tokens, allowing regulated industries to securely migrate sensitive data to the public cloud without compromising compliance. 

2. Focus on day-to-day operations 

Fortanix offers a comprehensive Data Security as a Service (DaaS) platform with a Hardware Security Module (HSM), key management, encryption, shared secrets, and tokenization capabilities.  

By consolidating and streamlining various security components into a single integrated system with standardized cryptographic interfaces, Fortanix enables customers to simplify data security operations and reduce costs.  

Our platform features a modern user interface for easy administration and control, along with RESTful APIs that facilitate seamless integration of data security functionalities into applications by developer and DevOps teams. 

3. Operationalize Encryption Key Management Deployments 

Fortanix provides comprehensive data security solutions encompassing access control, backup, long-term storage, and flexibility. Through unified key management, our platform ensures robust security for sensitive data in various cloud environments (public, hybrid, multi, private), granting organizations full control over their data regardless of the environment.  

With our SaaS platform, businesses can centralize cryptographic key and secret management while separating keys and data storage locations. Fortanix Data Security Manager (DSM) is a unique solution that enables consistent encryption key management policies across on-premises, multiple clouds, tenants, and regions. DSM empowers cloud architects to securely transition critical workloads to the cloud and efficiently manage hybrid and multi-cloud setups through a centralized console. 

Data security is essential for businesses to protect sensitive information, maintain customer trust, ensure compliance with regulations, and guarantee business continuity. The following are upcoming trends that will make data security mandatory.

The shift towards cloud computing has introduced new vulnerabilities as businesses scale for flexibility and cost-efficiency. The shared responsibility model and potential misconfigurations in cloud settings can expose sensitive data to cyber threats.

Additionally, while the rapid adoption of AI offers significant benefits, it introduces risks such as algorithm hijacking, data poisoning, and model stealing, making it critical for organizations to address these security challenges proactively.

With the impending advent of quantum computing, current encryption methods risk becoming outdated. Organizations must begin adopting quantum-resistant cryptographic protocols to stay ahead of potential threats.

Secure data collaboration with third parties is fundamental for innovation and customized customer experiences. Ensuring data anonymization, secure APIs, strict access controls, and legal agreements are key strategies for maintaining data security and building safe partnerships.

Improving Data Security in Your Organization includes:

1. Encryption: 

Implementing encryption is a fundamental step in enhancing data security by scrambling sensitive information to make it unreadable without the corresponding decryption key. Utilize strong encryption algorithms to protect data both at rest and in transit, ensuring that even if unauthorized access occurs, the data remains secure. Employ end-to-end encryption for communication channels and implement encryption protocols for stored data to safeguard it from potential breaches or unauthorized access attempts.

2. Key Management: 

Effective key management is essential for maintaining the integrity of encrypted data. Establish robust key management practices to securely generate, store, rotate, and revoke encryption keys. Implement access controls and multi-factor authentication for key management systems to prevent unauthorized access. Regularly audit and monitor key usage to ensure compliance with security policies and regulatory requirements, thereby enhancing the overall security of encrypted data within your organization.

3. Data Security Posture Management:

Maintaining a strong data security posture involves continuously assessing, monitoring, and improving your organization's security. Conduct regular risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities, threats, and compliance gaps within your data security framework. Develop and enforce comprehensive security policies and procedures tailored to your organization's specific needs, including data classification, incident response plans, and employee training programs. Utilize security tools and technologies to automate threat detection, incident response, and security monitoring to proactively defend against potential security breaches and minimize the impact of cybersecurity incidents on your organization.

Here are the common data security threats:

1. Accidental Data Exposure: 

Accidental data exposure occurs when sensitive information is inadvertently shared or made accessible to unauthorized individuals. This can occur through human error, misconfigured security settings, or lack of awareness about data handling practices. To mitigate this threat, organizations should prioritize employee training on data security protocols, implement access controls and encryption, conduct regular data audits, and establish clear policies on handling sensitive information to prevent accidental leaks. 

2. Data Loss in the Cloud: 

Data loss in the cloud poses a significant threat due to factors like inadequate backup procedures, service provider outages, cyberattacks, or data breaches. Organizations must implement robust data backup and recovery strategies, encrypt data both at rest and in transit, regularly test backup systems for reliability, and ensure they have contingency plans in place to recover data swiftly in the event of a data loss incident.

3. Access Mismanagement: 

Access mismanagement involves granting excessive permissions, failing to revoke access rights promptly, or overlooking user activity monitoring, leading to unauthorized access and potential data breaches. To combat this threat, businesses should adopt the principle of least privilege, regularly review and update access controls, enforce strong authentication methods, and monitor user activities to detect and respond to suspicious behavior effectively. 

4. SQL Injections: 

SQL injections are a common method used by hackers to manipulate databases through malicious input, potentially leading to data leakage, unauthorized access, or database corruption. To prevent SQL injections, organizations should use parameterized queries, input validation, and stored procedures, employ web application firewalls, conduct regular security testing, and keep database systems updated with the latest security patches to protect against this specific type of cyber threat. 

Compliance involves processing, storing, and protecting data according to specific laws, rules, industry standards, or internal policies. It ensures businesses follow regulations to protect sensitive data, uphold privacy, and reduce risks related to data breaches or penalties.

Data compliance helps mitigate threats and keep customer data safe. It sets controls that organizations and individuals must follow when handling data. These requirements create safeguards to protect data privacy and prevent misuse. Compliance also helps develop policies for responsible data handling.

Organizations often invest in data compliance willingly, not just out of necessity. They recognize that compliance builds customer trust and their reputation as responsible data curators. Reducing vulnerabilities and errors also improves security, efficiency, and profitability.

Effective data management through compliance reduces the time and resources spent on data correction and improves data mining for insights. Increasing regulations drive enterprises to focus more on data security and compliance. Regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD), Canada Digital Privacy Act (DPA), Australia Privacy Act 1988, China Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)and Argentina General Data Protection Law (GDPL) require strict adherence to data protection standards. 

The GDPR has influenced data privacy regulations globally, emphasizing the secure processing of personal data. It mandates measures to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Compliance standards like NIST, FedRAMP, PCI, ISO27001, ISO27032, BSI, and IETF have become higher priorities.

Protecting company data involves understanding data classifications and implementing appropriate security controls based on these classifications. Data classifications help a security team determine what data types can be released and what measures should protect each data type.

There are three main categories: 

• Confidential Data: This includes data that cannot be released and is protected by federal or state laws, regulations, or contractual agreements requiring confidentiality, such as Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). 
• Protected Data: This data is not identified as confidential or public but still requires protection to ensure lawful or controlled release. 
• Public Data: This is data open to all users, with no security measures necessary. Public data includes information that must be made public due to obligations, such as fact sheets or information intended to promote the organization, research, or its initiatives. 

To ensure the protection of these data types, different roles and responsibilities are assigned within an organization: 

Data Owner: The Data Owner is assigned by management to oversee the handling of administrative, academic, or research data. They are responsible for ensuring appropriate steps are taken to protect data and for implementing policies, guidelines, and memorandums of understanding that define the proper use of the data. The Data Owner must: 

• Approve access and formally assign custody of information resources. 
• Specify appropriate controls, based on data classification, to protect information from unauthorized modification, deletion, or disclosure. 
• Ensure administrators implement these controls and educate users on their importance. 
• Confirm that applicable controls are in place and ensure compliance. 
• Re-evaluate access rights when a user’s access requirements change. 

Data Administrator: A dedicated team or an outsourced service provider is responsible for implementing the controls specified by the Data Owner. Their responsibilities include: 

• Implementing the controls and providing physical and procedural safeguards for the information resources. 
• Assisting Data Owners in evaluating the overall effectiveness of these controls. 
• Implementing monitoring techniques and procedures to detect, report, and investigate security incidents. 

Data User: Data Users are individuals authorized by the Data Owner to read, enter, or update information. Their responsibilities include: 

• Using the resource only for the purposes specified by the Data Owner. 
• Complying with the controls established by the Data Owner. 
• Preventing the disclosure of confidential or sensitive information. 

Siloed tools create disparate visibility into an organization’s current security posture, making it challenging to manually collect the data required to assess the overall security posture. Data security siloes that are unmonitored increase the risk of data exposure, and disrupted operations due to lost keys or ransomware attacks. The lack of visibility and manual data collection uses significant cycles of the security teams, inhibiting the ability to focus on strategic improvements in overall data security posture.

Tokenization is a method of protecting sensitive data by replacing it with non-sensitive equivalents called tokens. These tokens retain the format and length of the original data but have no meaningful value outside of the tokenization system. 

For example, a credit card number might be replaced with a randomly generated string with the same length and format. Still, it cannot be traced back to the original number without access to the tokenization system. The real data is stored securely in a separate, highly controlled environment, and only those with proper authorization can access it, significantly reducing the risk of data breaches.

The process begins by identifying sensitive data that needs to be protected. This data is then processed through a tokenization algorithm, which generates the tokens. These tokens are used in place of the original data in databases, applications, and processes. 

Tokenization is especially effective in industries that handle large volumes of sensitive information, such as finance and healthcare, as it helps ensure compliance with data protection regulations and reduces the potential impact of a data breach.