How can data governance professionals and cybersecurity experts work together to ensure data security?

1 Data governance and cybersecurity: what are they and why do they matter?

Data governance is the process of defining, implementing, and monitoring the policies, standards, roles, and procedures for managing data across an organization. It covers aspects such as data quality, metadata, data lineage, data ethics, data privacy, and data security. Data governance aims to ensure that data is accurate, consistent, trustworthy, and compliant with internal and external regulations.

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting data, systems, networks, and devices from cyberattacks, such as malware, ransomware, phishing, denial-of-service, or data breaches. Cybersecurity involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating the risks and vulnerabilities that could compromise data security. Cybersecurity also includes implementing technical, administrative, and physical controls to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber incidents.

Data governance and cybersecurity matter because they enable organizations to leverage their data assets effectively and responsibly, while minimizing the potential harm or loss that could result from data security breaches. Data security breaches can have severe consequences, such as reputational damage, legal liability, financial losses, operational disruptions, or even physical harm.

2 How can data governance professionals and cybersecurity experts collaborate?

Data governance professionals and cybersecurity experts can collaborate by aligning their goals, strategies, and processes for ensuring data security. To do this, they should establish a data security framework that defines objectives, principles, policies, standards, roles, and responsibilities. Additionally, regular assessments and audits should be conducted to identify and prioritize data security risks and gaps. Solutions such as encryption, authentication, authorization, backup, recovery, monitoring, logging, or incident response should be implemented. Furthermore, users and stakeholders should be educated on the policies and procedures related to data security. Finally, the framework and controls should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure they remain effective and compliant with changing requirements and regulations.

3 What skills and competencies do data governance professionals and cybersecurity experts need?

Data governance professionals and cybersecurity experts need a combination of technical, business, and soft skills and competencies to ensure data security. These include data literacy, the ability to understand, interpret, analyze, and communicate data effectively; knowledge of data security concepts, principles, methods, tools, and standards; data security analysis to identify and prioritize risks; implementation of security policies and procedures; management of security activities and processes; communication of security goals and expectations; and collaboration with other teams and partners. With a shared responsibility to protect data and help the organization reach its goals, these experts must work together to ensure that data is used appropriately.

4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?