Data Security Challenges – What Steps Should Be Taken?

More than two-thirds of businesses in every industry use the cloud to store and access their data remotely. Businesses and C-level executives are increasingly concerned about the security challenges cloud platforms pose, which are now the most common methods companies use to store and access data.?

Let's examine some of the most common data security challenges and take steps to overcome them.?

Why is Data Security the need of the hour??

Identifying the significance of various data and applying the most appropriate security measures is critical to effective data protection. Data security strategies must be based on the sensitivity of the data and subsequent regulatory compliance directives. It is a legal requirement for businesses to protect the data of their users and customers. Banks and other organizations in financial companies may be required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and take sufficient measures to safeguard consumer data.

In organizations that fail to prioritize data security, a breach will result in hefty compliance-related fines and permanently damage their reputation. Businesses may end up spending a considerable amount of time mending the damages, resulting in further downtime and losses.

What are the common data security challenges?

Let's look at the pillars on which data security is built before discussing the challenges:

• Confidentiality: Data must be accessed only by authorized users.
• Integrity: All data stored should be consistent, precise, and unaffected by uncalled-for changes.
• Availability: An availability strategy must ensure safety, accessibility, and data availability for business operational requirements.?

A direct or indirect attack on any of these pillars of data security can lead to monumental repercussions. Here are some common data security challenges.

Infringement

Cloud infrastructure security controls lie with a vendor, thereby doubling security risks. Data breaches can happen due to internal or external hackers' intentional violation of security parameters within the cloud to steal or manipulate confidential data. Therefore, organizations must emphasize tracking employee actions and authorizations to avoid unsolicited attacks on stored data and choose a reliable vendor [1] to implement robust security protocols.

Malicious Attacks

Organizations are at risk of attacks such as distributed denial of service (DDoS), which is done intentionally to delete or steal data permanently. These attacks can lead to website accessibility issues for hours or even days and cause loss of data. As a result, it will impact both the customers' trust and revenue and cause irredeemable damage.

Accessibility

One of the reasons organizations turn to the cloud is the ease of data availability regardless of geographical constraints. And, it is possible through an internet connection. But what if the application programming interfaces (APIs) users interact with aren't secure? The attackers can locate and exploit such vulnerabilities through APIs. Consequently, policies must be in place, and you must conduct data usage audits to determine who can access cloud data and from where.

Storage

The cloud frequently disperses data across multiple locations. Additionally, when data is transferred from one country to another, compliance and privacy issues arise. It is because the rules governing data storage change at the same time. Consequently, the cloud service provider must inform users of data storage laws and the exact location of the data storage server.

How can organizations overcome data security challenges??

While cloud security systems can cope with threats due to their inbuilt security systems, hackers have progressed, and it seems no data is safe from threats if additional security measures are not in place. How can businesses take advantage of the benefits of cloud technology while keeping their sensitive information secure?

The following best practices will help organizations minimize data loss or theft and improve data security:

Data Encryption

When migrating data to the cloud and storing it in an encrypted format, encryption is one of the best solutions. This practice protects data from potential threats and adheres to regulations and privacy policies of organizations or clients. Exchanges over a Secured Socket Layer (SSL) and field-level encryption ensure the most acceptable data security.?

User Identity Access Management

You should use an access control system to limit specific parties' data and identify unauthorized users. Users are assigned attributes such as job roles, actions, permissions, or even location by the attribute-based access control mechanism, which determines access based on those attributes. I've previously discussed the significance of a fine-grained access solution [2] and how it strengthens user roles and permissions.

Data Disposal

Many organizations, particularly those in the health, public, and financial sectors deal with sensitive information daily. In this way, it is critical to remove data from the server that has been used, is no longer required, or is redundant to prevent it from being misused in the future.

As a result, organizations must evaluate the service provider's data deletion policy and ensure that information is deleted within the time-frame specified in the contract.

Audits

Complying with national and international data security regulations and industry standards is a primary reason to maintain cloud data security. Cloud data needs a clear audit trail, data policy enforcement, and data audit reporting to remain secure.?

Bottom line

Organizations these days want to secure data and need data accessibility regardless of location and device. With cloud technology, this is possible, as it doesn't require a major software or hardware investment. While cloud infrastructure is an emerging technology that offers several paybacks to the users, it has its security challenges. Finding workable solutions begin with recognizing the challenges. With the help of a suitable service provider, technology, and planning, organizations can overcome cloud data security issues and challenges.