Data security is the process of safeguarding digital information throughout its entire life cycle to protect it from corruption, theft, or unauthorized access. It covers everything—hardware, software, storage devices, and user devices; access and administrative controls; and organizations' policies and procedures.
With most enterprises entering the digital sphere, data security is becoming an ever-important consideration.
1. Data Confidentiality: Data confidentiality refers to having strict, verified control of who or what can access data and how they are able to do so.
2. Data Integrity: The integrity of your data - ensuring the accuracy, consistency, data through its entire lifecycle is necessary for your data to remain useful.
3. Data Authenticity: While similar to the concept of data integrity, data authenticity is distinct because rather than just ensuring that the data is accurate.
4. Data Availability: Data availability is the most often overlooked aspect of data security. Ensuring that the data is available and accessible is necessary.
Not only is data security about maintaining the confidentiality of your data, but also its availability and integrity. You need your data to be available to use whenever you need it; you also require it to maintain its integrity and reliability. Otherwise, there's no point storing the data you produce.