Part One

Article originally posted on Bdaily

Recent research found that in 2014 data breaches increased by 49 per cent with more than a billion data records stolen or compromised (that’s 32 records lost or stolen every second). Recent incidents involving large financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase have brought this to the forefront of media attention, and ensured that it is high up on the CIO’s agenda. With increased scrutiny on data regulation from security bodies and the rise of modern working practices, where more and more employees are working remotely, organisations must ensure that the right data is only accessed by the right people. This can be a nightmare for all types of businesses to manage, but using graph databases could make this a thing of the past.

Unsecure data

Every two days we create more data than we did from the dawn of civilisation until 2003. Some of this data can be extremely sensitive, such as hospital records or bank details, carrying serious ramifications should it end up in the wrong hands. New laws are constantly coming into play, placing more responsibility on businesses for the safety of the data they look after. And there are serious consequences should a company be found to breach these rules – not only could it tarnish an organisation’s image, but they’ll also likely face hefty fines from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). With this in mind, businesses must have an evolving strategy in place to keep data safe.

Giving the key to the right people

Recent research from Kaspersky Lab highlighted that for the first time accidental leaks by an employee overtook software vulnerabilities as the leading cause of data breaches. Organisations need to make sure that they have a plan in place to prevent these incidents following the wrong employee viewing or handling data they should not have had access to in the first place.

It is unthinkable to imagine that everyone within an organisation has access to the same information, files and servers. For example you would not expect a bank branch assistant to be able to access the account information for top business clients, or a civil servant to be able to view critical files regarding international relations privy only to the Prime Minister. Equally, organisations need to ensure that the door is firmly closed to external threats, including data hacking and malicious acts of fraud.

Although the issues might seem obvious, the problem is vastly complex. Particularly as organisations grow, expand overseas and increase mobile and remote working practices this problem around access management begins to intensify. While most companies have an existing access management system in place some simply aren’t designed for the needs of new working practices and in many cases the authentication process can be a slow and painful one.

Read part two here

 

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