Guide to Enterprise Data Protection

You may already know that data protection is the process of securing information from corruption, compromise or loss. But when we talk about enterprise data protection, we’re referring to the implementation of security policies and solutions on an organizational level.

Safeguarding sensitive data is now seen as an essential practice due to factors like increasingly severe data breaches and more stringent privacy laws. Therefore, taking company-wide measures to secure your intellectual
property, customer information, employees’ personal information and industry secrets is crucial for B2B enterprises.

In this blog, we discuss 5 critical areas that companies can easily address to improve their data protection strategy.

3 States of Data

Before we go any further, it’s important to understand these 3 different states of data:

• Data at rest:
  Inactive data that’s not moving between devices and networks. Data at rest is generally stored on computer hard drives, external drives or the cloud.
• Data in transit:
  Data that is actively moving from one location to another.
• Data in use:
  Data that is easily accessible or currently being accessed by users and applications.

To find out more about the 3 states of data, check our Guide to Enterprise Data Encryption and Protection Solutions.

5 Critical Areas to Address

By focusing on these 5 areas, you will get a head start on establishing a secure enterprise data protection strategy. 

1.    Auditing and Compliance

Whether you're creating an enterprise data protection strategy or fine-tuning an existing one, the best place to start is a comprehensive audit of your security systems. Finding out about your vulnerabilities makes it much easier to decide on the type of data that most needs protecting, as well as who should be granted access to different types of data. In addition, auditing can help you formulate your company’s data protection goals and practices. You may even decide to go for a zero-trust model.

Simplifying your organization’s ability to comply with relevant data privacy regulations, such as GDPR, should also be a factor in deciding on your approach to enterprise data protection. You will want to use centralized tools and solutions that boost your compliance efforts, whether they’re related to encryption, data wiping or some other area.

2.    Layered Security

Layered security is the practice of protecting systems, identities and networks by using multiple tools. By building a data protection strategy that is formed of separate and complementary tools, you can mitigate the impact that a potential failure from one component would have on your overall security.

An example is to use encryption solutions in tandem with data wiping tools. The encryption protects data from physical and virtual threats, while the data wiping allows you to permanently remove sensitive files and data remanence that remains on company systems. For enterprises, the process of encrypting and wiping data can also be completely centralized and controlled by administrators.

3.    Choose the Right Products

An essential step in the creation of any data protection strategy is choosing the right products for your business. While different companies are bound to have different priorities and wishes, there are some general principles that the majority of businesses will want to follow.

When it comes to data encryption, one such principle is 'no backdoors'. In case you didn’t know, backdoors are pieces of code that allow users to gain access to a system without direct consent. In terms of data privacy, this is far from ideal. So companies will want to ensure the data encryption software they choose doesn’t contain any backdoors.

Another recommendation is to not use tools solely provided by one vendor. If you rely too heavily on one particular company to protect your information across multiple products, you run the risk of all your data being compromised in the event of a data breach or software error.

Instead, it’s best to layer your security by using different solutions from specialist vendors. That way, you are more likely to remain protected in the event of a temporary failure to one component.

4.    Define Your Security Policy

When setting up an enterprise data protection strategy, businesses will need to consider employee training and the creation of data protection guidelines that can be followed on a day-to-day basis. This is particularly important for companies with hybrid or remote work models, as security awareness is even more essential when you’re away from the safer environment of the office.

Each company will likely include different things in their security guidelines, but here’s 2 tips to keep in mind:

• Remember to protect sensitive data by encrypting files and folders before uploading them to cloud services.
• Safeguard data in use and limit targeted attacks by creating protection policies for selected folders.

5.    Key Management

Key management is a term used in data encryption that refers to the storage and protection of encryption keys. If keys are compromised then third parties can gain unauthorized access to entire systems, so your business will want to choose an encryption tool that provides secure storage and protection of encryption keys. BestCrypt, for example, encrypts keys with a password and offers key protection and key generation features.

For enterprises, you will also want to choose an encryption product that offers central management features, such as recovery in case of emergency. With BestCrypt Container Encryption – Enterprise Edition, centralization allows administrators to control all encryption activities for their team from a single device. This allows for greater efficiency and consistency of company operations, as well as minimizing the chances of mistakes being made that could potentially compromise sensitive data. Central Management of encryption will also ensure the company always has a way to access encrypted files if someone forgets a password or changes it maliciously with intent to block company access.

Data Protection for Enterprises

Due to the constant growing threats of cyberattacks and cybersecurity myths, data protection is more important than ever. By creating an enterprise data protection strategy that is personalized to the needs of your organization and addresses the most critical areas, companies can feel confident about their security measures.

If you’re still looking for encryption software, BestCrypt has no backdoors and provides companies with all kinds of features to keep your encryption strong, including tracking cybersecurity KPIs.

New to enterprise encryption? Check out our Guide to Enterprise Data Encryption and Protection Solutions.