4 breakthrough ideas for compliance and data security

Compliance management will never be easy, but there are ways to make it simpler and more transparent. Every year, organizations confront a growing volume and diversity of data and ever-evolving industry and government regulations. But the answer to more data, more devices, and more regulations isn’t more point security solutions. In fact, it may be possible to simplify compliance even as everything around you gets more complex.

Through research and conversations with customers, we’ve identified four key data security challenges that many organizations face as they implement hybrid work and multicloud environments. You can dig into our findings and recommendations by signing up and downloading the e-book Blueprint for Data Protection: 4 Breakthrough Ideas for Compliance and Data Security. In the meantime, let us walk you through some of the highlights.

1. Addressing insider risk created by hybrid work and the Great Reshuffle

By now, you’re probably familiar with the news that record numbers of workers are quitting and switching jobs. The phenomenon has even been given a name: the Great Reshuffle. Many of these career changers have prioritized flexible work environments that enable them to work remotely at least some of the time. This creates a great opportunity for businesses with the right technology to attract top talent; however, job-hopping also comes with risk. Employees may inadvertently—or, unfortunately, intentionally—take sensitive data with them when they leave. And it’s common for new workers to make mistakes while they are getting up to speed on security policies.

To improve risk management, it’s important to implement an effective insider risk program. The right security program will focus on both culture shifts that help people make the right decisions and privacy controls that don’t impede productivity. If you’re uncertain where to start, you’ll find more detail in the e-book, which outlines several recommended best practices.

2. Knowing your data

Our customers tell us that running a multicloud environment and supporting a hybrid workforce makes it extremely difficult to know what data they have and where it’s located. Employees, customers, and IoT devices are continuously creating new information, storing it on various clouds and devices, and frequently moving it to new locations. Data protection must be balanced with governance that doesn’t impede productivity.

Automate discovery to amplify data governance. Classification is key to defining which data is sensitive and who should have access to it. But if you’re doing this process manually, it’s nearly impossible. We recommend solutions that use AI to automatically classify data based on pre-defined requirements. With the right processes and technology, you can dramatically reduce your workload and enhance data protection.

3. Securing data in a borderless world

The network perimeter is widely held to be an ineffective strategy, and we’ve now entered a world where the office walls are also disappearing. Your company resources aren’t just stored inside your on-premises data center, they also exist in cloud environments and apps. People, IoT devices, and services from all over the place—including other countries—legitimately need to access those resources to get things done. Working from anywhere is more convenient than ever, but it’s also created more opportunities for bad actors to get a hold of sensitive data.

To help ensure that only authorized users can access your data, implement a Zero Trust framework. With Zero Trust, you don’t automatically trust any access request, even if it comes from inside the network. To prevent a breach, it’s important to verify every request explicitly. When access is granted, individuals, services, and smart devices should only be given as much access as they need and only for the amount of time that they need it. A notable tenet of a Zero Trust strategy is that teams should assume that the organization has already been breached, which is why it’s critical to make verification and access controls ingrained as protocol.

Zero Trust isn’t a product: It’s a strategy and process. Refer to the e-book for several recommended tips that will help you implement this important framework in your own organization.

4. Managing security platform complexity

If you have a patchwork system of unintegrated security solutions that you’ve acquired over time, you’re not alone. Many of our customers struggle to coordinate across multiple systems, losing precious time that they could put toward threat management.

You can significantly reduce complexity by unifying compliance solutions and data protection strategies. By replacing your point solutions with a platform from a single vendor, you can reduce cyberattacks, save time, and recover from an attack more quickly. Look for the following when choosing a vendor:

• Easy deployment, maintenance, and governance.
  
• A lower cost than a multiple-solution strategy.
  
• Easier deployment and user training.
  
• Solutions that work well with your current environment and tools.
  
• In-place data management.
  

Putting it all together

Respecting privacy while enabling productivity has only gotten more challenging as the way people work has shifted, but you can make your job a little bit easier with the proven strategies outlined in this blog.

Dive deeper into these four challenges and best practices in the e-book Blueprint for Data Protection: 4 Breakthrough Ideas for Compliance and Data Security.

Learn more about Microsoft Purview, a family of governance and compliance solutions that work together to give you greater visibility and control over your data.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

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