As the volume of data continues to surge, entities face increasingly complex security challenges. Across all industries, there is a growing understanding that protecting data is just as critical as using it for business insights. Yet, traditional security models battle to keep up with the complexities of multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
This shift has fueled a need for Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) as a core component of enterprise cybersecurity strategies. By integrating DSPM, organizations can achieve consistent and robust data protection across every stage of the data lifecycle.
This blog looks at a few fundamental DSPM strategies to support data security from creation to deletion.
Comprehensive Data Discovery and Classification
To effectively protect sensitive data in today’s multi-cloud landscape, businesses must first establish a clear understanding of their data and where it resides.
Understanding and Mapping Your Data
The initial phase of DSPM must focus on discovering and classifying data. With data scattered across on-premises and multiple cloud environments, it’s challenging for companies to have visibility and control over where sensitive data sits. Without a clear understanding of data location and type, implementing effective security controls is nearly impossible – you can’t secure what you can’t see and don’t know is there.
Implementing a Discovery Framework
A DSPM framework should begin with automated discovery tools that can scan all the different environments we find in today’s businesses. These tools help identify structured and unstructured data in databases, files, and across cloud storage and will classify it based on sensitivity and regulatory needs. For instance, personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property are considered high-risk and require specific protection measures.
With dynamic classification, maintaining an accurate data map as data sensitivity or residency requirements evolve over time is possible. This continuous mapping helps businesses enforce the necessary controls at every stage of the data lifecycle.
Continuous Data Monitoring and Alerts
In a shifting cybersecurity landscape, maintaining constant vigilance over data activities is key for identifying potential vulnerabilities and thwarting security incidents before they escalate.
Keeping Pace with Data Activities
Today’s threat environment is highly dynamic, so monitoring data activity is crucial for pinpointing vulnerabilities and threats in real-time. With DSPM, continuous monitoring extends further than traditional logging to track data access, modifications, and transfers across a range of environments.
Setting Up Proactive Monitoring Systems
Integrating DSPM with cloud environments helps firms gain visibility into data flows, such as who is accessing data and what they do with it, as well as any abnormal behaviors that might be a red flag to indicate something is awry. Through AI and machine learning, these solutions can identify anomalous patterns that might indicate a potential breach or unauthorized access.
These tools also configure automated alerts that are set to threat levels, which helps entities respond quickly to risks. A low-level alert might mean a suspicious login is taking place, while a sudden and large-scale movement of data would trigger high-severity alerts requiring instant action.
Automated Policy Enforcement
As data environments grow in complexity, automating the enforcement of data security policies becomes vital for affirming consistent protection across all platforms.
Reducing the Burden of Manual Controls
As data environments expand, manually managing security policies becomes increasingly impractical and prone to errors. Organizations handling large volumes of sensitive data must maintain consistent policy enforcement, which is challenging to achieve without automation.
Enforcing Security Policies Automatically
Automated policy enforcement is an essential part of any DSPM tool. By applying security policies systematically, firms can mitigate unavoidable risks with manual oversight. Automated controls include access restrictions, encryption, data retention, and deletion policies, which are enforced based on established standards and regulatory requirements. DSPM tools verify that these policies are effective, even as data moves or changes.
Integrating DSPM with Broader Cloud Security Platforms
A robust DSPM) strategy thrives on collaboration and needs seamless integration with other cloud security solutions for comprehensive protection.
Building a Unified Security Framework
An effective DSPM strategy functions best as part of a broader security ecosystem. To achieve holistic data protection, DSPM must integrate with other security solutions, allowing for a cohesive approach that encompasses all aspects of data security.
Establishing a Layered Security Approach
Integrating DSPM with Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools helps entities benefit from a multi-pronged defense.
CSPM takes care of infrastructure security, SIEM gives insights into data flows, and DSPM adds that extra layer of protection through continuous data monitoring and policy enforcement. Working together, these solutions streamline data security through consolidated controls and unified reporting, boosting protection and operational efficiency.
Elevating Your Data Security Strategy with DSPM
As companies continue to adopt cloud-based and hybrid models, a robust data protection strategy is more important than ever. DSPM helps protect data throughout its lifecycle, protect valuable assets, and help firms meet compliance requirements.
By adopting DSPM strategies—data discovery and classification, continuous monitoring and alerts, automated policy enforcement, and integration with cloud security tools—businesses can effectively mitigate data security risks.
