Understanding the Growing Challenges of Unstructured Data Access Security

The Rise of Unstructured Data: A Cybersecurity Challenge

In today’s digital age, experts estimate that unstructured data now makes up 80% to 90% of the average organization’s data. This means that the majority of data within an organization is stored in various formats such as text documents, spreadsheets, email messages, and video files. This unstructured data poses significant cybersecurity challenges for organizations.

The problem lies in the fact that many organizations are unaware of where their sensitive data resides. While companies may secure their structured data in databases or applications, they often overlook the unstructured data stored in spreadsheets, presentations, and cloud services. This lack of visibility can leave organizations vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks.

To address this issue, cybersecurity teams need to enhance their visibility into where enterprise data lives. Conducting a data inventory audit is a crucial first step in understanding and protecting sensitive information. By identifying the location of unstructured data, security teams can implement access controls and governance measures to ensure data security.

Identity plays a key role in governing access to both structured and unstructured data. Establishing clear roles and permissions for human and machine identities helps ensure that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive information. Regularly validating access privileges and integrating lifecycle management systems can further enhance data access security.

In conclusion, organizations must adopt an “identify, assess, govern” approach to data access security. By prioritizing the protection of unstructured data and implementing robust access controls, organizations can safeguard their sensitive information from cyber threats. Don’t wait for a breach to occur – act now to secure your data and prevent potential exploits by cyber attackers.