The sensitive data discovery is the process of locating and identifying sensitive information that should be safeguarded or destroyed. It’s an essential step for security teams to guarantee they comply with regulations while safeguarding their organization’s privacy.
A sensitive data discovery tool is a software solution that automates this process. It gives your security team access to an up-to-date inventory of sensitive data, correctly classifies it, reports on it and takes data remediation actions as needed.
Classification
Classification is the process of categorizing, organizing and safeguarding data into categories or types that matter to an organization. It allows companies to establish proper storage availability and access restrictions, prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification, and minimize costly data breaches.
Classifying data helps businesses adhere to regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Furthermore, it enhances integrity, confidentiality and availability – three core components of data security.
Data classification allows administrators to quickly detect lost or stolen information in case of a data breach, while streamlining permission management across an enterprise. Users with similar permissions can be grouped and assigned authorization levels – giving IT teams more time to respond to a breach quickly.
Scanning
Sensitive data discovery is an integral component of any organization’s data security plan. With the vast amounts of both structured and unstructured information being accessed and stored by businesses and organizations worldwide, sensitive information may be hidden in unexpected places.
Fortunately, the right sensitive data discovery tools can assist your team in locating and identifying sensitive data from any location – even unexpected places! For instance, data can be discovered on cloud storage servers, USB drives, email exchanges, and many other devices.
Effective sensitive data discovery tools should have high scalability and be user-friendly, helping your security team save time and resources in a high-pressure data environment.
Reporting
Reporting is the process of collecting, processing and presenting information in an easily understood manner. It simplifies complex data down to its core elements for specific audiences or stakeholders.
Successful sensitive data discovery projects require effective tools that can locate and categorize sensitive information (PII, PHI). When selecting one tool over another, take into account its capacity for both finding and categorizing sensitive data.
A reliable data discovery solution should provide a consolidated view of all your data to give you timely actionable insights on the state of your information security. This helps identify and prioritize potential threats that could harm your business or reputation.
Sensitive data refers to any information that must be safeguarded against unauthorized disclosure, either in physical or electronic form and includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI).
Analysis
Sensitive data refers to personal identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI). When a company or organization stores or processes this type of data, they must abide by various privacy laws.
Sensitive data discovery is a crucial step for IT security teams. It allows them to identify and locate sensitive information in order to abide by data protection laws, safeguard their customers’ and employees’ privacy interests, and prevent breaches of sensitive information.
Some sensitive data discovery tools are designed to automatically scan and classify a variety of unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data sources. These solutions tend to be cloud-based and AI-powered, giving increased visibility over unstructured data within days instead of weeks.