COVER STORY
Safeguarding data across borders With the increasing reliance on technology for storing and circulating important and personal information, the threat of data breaches and theft has become a major issue. Organizations are embracing privacy by design principles and enhancing transparency in their data handling practices.
How do you balance the need for data security with the need for accessibility and ease of use?
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s data has taken precedence and gained utmost importance for security, what are some of the challenges that organizations facing today and how do you address them? Organizations in the Middle East are facing significant challenges in effectively managing and safeguarding vast amounts of data, complying with data privacy regulations, addressing increasing cyber threats, and ensuring data protection across various platforms. To tackle these challenges, we recommend organizations to develop a data privacy and data security program which is a phased approach towards achieving their goals. This involves developing their strategy, developing and implementing best practices for data discovery, data classification, implementation of technology controls and monitor them 24x7. One of the fundamentals is to plan the journey in a logical manner rather than investing in technologies without meeting the pre-requisites for a successful implementation.
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To achieve a harmonious balance, it is crucial to initially align the security program with the organizational business functions and clearly define expectations while safeguarding the customer experience. Subsequently, creating and executing a customized security and privacy-centric program that is intuitively designed and seamlessly integrated for end users is necessary.
With data so diversified today in storage and movement, what are some of the trends you see in the market that organizations are implementing to increase data security? Organizations are exploring various avenues to enhance data security. Firstly, the adoption of cloud technology has resulted in the implementation and expansion of cloudbased security solutions. These solutions seamlessly utilize advanced encryption and authentication mechanisms, offering precise controls for privileged users. This significantly contributes to securing data stored and processed in the cloud. Secondly, there is a growing emphasis on data-centric security approaches within data centers, such as masking, tokenization, and classification. These measures significantly
J U N E 2023
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