3 questions CISOs need to ask themselves to protect your data

While the cybersecurity industry has always been marked by changing trends and the sudden debut of new technologies, the pace of change is accelerating. In the last year alone, large enterprises and institutions have seen their activities frozen by ransomware, while major data breaches have damaged the reputations of major organizations such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

The emergence of hybrid cloud and cloud-native applications, in particular, has given rise to new security concerns.

Here are the three questions CISOs need to ask themselves to protect sensitive data:

1. where is my data?

Lack of knowledge not only increases the risk of a data breach; it also increases the likelihood that an organization will devote critical resources to protecting data that is not sensitive.

After cataloging assets, organizations must classify whether the data has real business value. Adopting this data-centric approach to security ensures that an organization’s most valuable assets are protected while less time is spent on assets that require less security.

2. Where is my data going?

Once organizations understand where data is stored and which assets are most valuable, they need to tag that sensitive data and track where it is going.

This type of investigation can reveal a variety of surprises. For example, sensitive data could be traveling to a foreign server, taking it out of compliance with geographic regulations, or a bad guy could be accessing a single asset at the same time every night. When data travels, it must travel with your security posture; knowing where it goes is key to understanding and predicting potential threat vectors.

3. What happens if I am attacked?

It is not uncommon for organizations to experience an intrusion during the course of their regular operations. However, this should not be a reason to panic. Effective pre-positioning ensures that security teams can better manage risk and have the tools to ensure business continuity when a bad actor has gained access to their systems.

With the right combination of defensive tactics and pre-positioning, cybersecurity leaders can build confidence in the robustness of their systems.

With an active approach to cybersecurity, knowledge is power.

Focusing on preparedness and knowledge allows cybersecurity leaders to remain confident in the strength of their systems, knowing that even the inevitable breach will not have a catastrophic impact.