Putting it in the right place and making sure it’s sound: Data classification and compliance needs analysis
We believe that there are four reasons why you should classify your data and analyze whether or not it needs to be compliant. Doing so will:
- Ensure that data can be found quickly
- Make sure that you’re not duplicating data
- This will save you storage, speed up your retrieval times and reduce opportunities for data breaches
- Assist your company in meeting legal and regulatory requirements for retrieving specific information within set timeframes
- It will also help you respond to potential or actual data breaches
- Determine what you decide is appropriate security control and what you’d like to protect
netlogx has developed a practical approach to data classification. It focuses on sensitive information that’s subject to legal and regulatory requirements.
We classify and evaluate data based on its confidentiality, integrity and availability requirements. Only sensitive data is tagged, which significantly reduces the cost of the process.
It’s a step-by-step process which goes like this:
- Identification of critical processes and data
- Identification of data custodians and owners
- Identification of security and operational requirements
- Establishment of data classification scheme
- Identification of appropriate standards together with existing internal controls
- Carrying out of data audit and cleansing project, as required
- Documenting and reporting on data classification and compliance requirements
- Preparation and implementation of appropriate controls and data reporting processes
- Monitoring and maintenance of classification system, which can be adjusted if necessary
Why is classification and compliance needs analysis a good thing?
Organizations which embrace the classification and compliance analysis approach are far less likely to be compromised. Even if their data is breached, they are then able to develop plans to proactively remediate any issues.
Such organizations also significantly reduce the cost of their information management related to storage cost and data re-use.