Enterprise Data Security: What It Is And Why It Matters

Enterprise data security is the process of securing all digital information without restricting the business’s ability to use the information for business needs or endangering consumer and end-user privacy. Data loss is a real and ever-present danger for businesses that can result in significant financial losses as well as the loss of trust and authority in the industry.

Because of this, investing resources in an effective data security strategy should be a top priority for all businesses—from small businesses to full-scale enterprises.

A solid, multi-layered approach to enterprise data security ensures data and applications are always secure and available, and that businesses are prepared for any disruption.

There are a variety of security factors that should be considered and accommodated when creating a successful data security strategy for any business:

• Cloud Security
• Detection and Response
• DevOps
• Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

Cloud security refers to a set of policies, applications, technologies, and controls that work in unison to protect cloud-based data and infrastructure. Simply put, it is the hardware and software you use to keep your data safe when it is in the cloud.

Cloud security is integral in today’s digital world—without it, you are effectively risking every piece of data you and your customers use. This would result in the loss of integrity in your business and potentially the loss of your business as you know it.

No level of investment prevents or blocks 100% of attacks. The number, intensity, and sophistication of cyber attacks continue to increase every year. This unceasing rise in malicious cyber activity has paralleled the mushrooming volume of data along with the expansive growth of a typical enterprise’s attack surface. Overcoming and subduing these new threats requires more sophisticated, tenacious, comprehensive, and integrated solutions.

There are a variety of ways to manage cloud security but it all boils down to one thing—you need to have a team dedicated to monitoring for potential breaches and threats, and ensuring that your security systems are always up-to-date and functioning properly.

Your cloud security team should be focusing on identifying and remediating high-risk security issues before they become full-scale cyber attacks. They should be continuously monitoring and auditing your systems, managing the protection of your data, enforcing your privacy policies, and evaluating security controls and the physical infrastructure that supports your cloud security.

Business happens wherever people are—if there is a Wi-Fi network or a 3G/4G network, then people have everything they need to conduct business. People are directly accessing the cloud, bypassing the once standard enterprise gateways and firewalls. They are instead accessing the cloud via mobile devices, sending data over public networks daily.

Because of this shift, enterprise security also needs to make a shift. It is no longer about what can be stopped versus what is allowed. It now needs to be about managing and monitoring what is happening in the cloud.

Enterprise cloud security requires an approach to security that addresses the realities of a world where mobile and social live side-by-side with enterprise solutions. Security teams need to be able to have access and visibility into all of their digital assets, whether it is happening internally or externally. Visibility into every aspect of how an enterprise is using and managing the cloud—from devices to users to applications—is a necessity in the current IT climate.

When operating in a world where business is ever-changing and users can access the cloud from anywhere, it becomes about more than simply protecting your network—it is about being agile and flexible and having the resources to respond to any potential threats as soon as they are detected.

Cloud computing opens up companies to a litany of new risks. Therefore it is essential to work towards understanding and mitigating those risks to ensure that companies can effectively leverage the benefits of cloud computing.

The cloud comes with a unique set of characteristics that make it more vulnerable to threats— however this is not a reason to not use cloud computing. Instead, it is a chance for businesses to build security solutions that are designed specifically for the cloud.

A study conducted by the Ponemon Institute titled “Data Breach: The Cloud Multiplier Effect” found that data breaches were three times more likely to occur in businesses using the cloud than those that were not. It also found that over 50% of IT and security professionals believed that their cloud security measures were low.

With a robust cloud security strategy in place, businesses can feel more confident in their ability to predict, detect, and respond to any potential threats.

Many businesses rely on preventative measures for the data security systems and believe that is the best way to use their resources. But, the reality is that no level of investment in your data security system prevents or blocks 100% of attacks. That is why investing in a detection and response system is an integral part of any data security strategy.

While businesses must still invest in prevention, they should also be focusing on detection and response measures. Detection and response capabilities should include the following elements to be able to provide a robust solution for companies:

• Threat research that incorporates industry data, continuous research, and machine-learning to provide the most up-to-date information.
• Real-time reporting that provides access to information on risk, vulnerabilities, remediation activities, configuration exposures, and compliance status.
• An incident response process and dedicated team.
• 24/7 monitoring of data systems.

Depending on the size and scale of your business, you may have an internal DevOps team capable of developing, deploying and monitoring all of your data security solutions. If you don’t have a dedicated DevOps team or person, you are missing a key point in your data security.

Businesses need to manage their DevOps carefully to ensure that security is consistently and effectively monitored to avoid threats and respond to them quickly when they do arise.

The reality for many businesses and enterprises is that building and running a DevOps team is challenging. Companies need to undertake the high demand on time and costs, consistently ensure that team members have the most up-to-date skills and knowledge, and oftentimes shift the entire company culture to a new way of working.

If your business does not have a DevOps team, you can confidently turn to Managed DevOps solutions—these turnkey, customized solutions can lead to an increase in productivity and efficiency. A report conducted by Veritis, “State of DevOps Report 2019: DevOps Not a Trend, The Standard!“, found that the time to recover from incidents was actually 2,604 times faster with a managed DevOps team.

At Aptum, a trained, SOC 2 audited support team can help ensure businesses proactively monitor and support the day-to-day operations of your infrastructure and application platform. Our Managed DevOps solutions start by reviewing your application portfolio, business impact, technical risks, and the path (and gaps) to DevOps, incorporating best practices and cloud-native development.

In today’s always-connected world, downtime is not an option for businesses—a robust disaster recovery (DR) plan is key to business continuity.

Disaster recovery is a vital component of enterprise security planning aimed at protecting a business from significant negative impacts due to security breaches. Having a thorough disaster recovery strategy in place means businesses can quickly bounce back after being affected by interference.

Disaster recovery is an important precautionary measure that businesses must adopt to ensure that they can mitigate the risks of setbacks that could otherwise translate into lost revenue and other significant losses including affecting customer relations and the quality of products or services.

Robust disaster recovery is a fundamental cornerstone of business assurance and continuity. Implemented correctly, it provides the peace of mind your business will function and your data is protected should an incident occur.

When creating a disaster recovery plan is outside of the scope of your business, disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a turnkey solution that can help ensure businesses have a functional disaster recovery strategy in place.

DRaaS is a cloud computing model that relies on a third-party service provider that delivers a plan as well as all of the IT infrastructure and support to regain functionality after a disaster occurs. This as-a-service model allows businesses to reap the benefits of disaster recovery, without needing to supply the resources or execute the management.

At Aptum, Managed Disaster Recovery as a Service leverages the cloud to protect your data and offers flexible solutions to meet specific business recovery goals. Users can request a file-level restore, and partial or full failover of systems, backed by assistance with configuration and troubleshooting.

In addition, Aptum’s Managed DRaaS uses an enterprise-grade replication software that is suitable for all application types and minimizes your Recovery Point and Recovery Time Objectives (RPO and RTO), so data loss is negligible and downtime is all but eliminated.

Companies rely more heavily on data than ever before—this is why protecting your business against loss, theft, and corruption is essential to success. Enterprise data security is one of the most important tasks for all organizations.

It is essential for businesses to stay ahead of the curve with their data security. Without the proper infrastructure in place, companies run the risk of falling victim to breaches, financial losses, ransomware, and damaged reputation.

Previously, most companies focused on perimeter security and preventative measures. With the increase in threats and the rise of internal data breaches, it is essential for businesses to adopt a solid enterprise data security strategy to effectively protect your business. Managed solutions allow businesses to access high-quality security services without needing to invest heavily in your internal infrastructure.