4 Overlooked Compliance and Security Risks Arising from Surging Data Volumes

The Crucial Role of Compliance in the Unstructured Data Market 

In today’s digital age, data is king. The insights generated from data provide businesses with intelligent insights to improve business operations. As an enterprise solution provider specialising in unstructured data and information governance, we understand the challenges that organisations face in this ever-expanding data landscape.  

As the amount of data being generated and stored continues to surge, businesses must be aware of the compliance and security risks that come with it. While many companies focus on protecting sensitive data from cyber threats, there are a number of overlooked compliance and security risks that arise from the sheer volume of data being stored. In this blog post, we’ll explore four of these risks and provide tips on how to mitigate them.  

Unstructured data comes with its own set of challenges. Its lack of structure and organisation poses a significant hurdle, making it challenging to discover and classify information. Additionally, data security risks loom large, as sensitive information can easily be exposed if not adequately protected. In order to meet regulatory requirements, reduce storage costs, increase staff productivity and protect sensitive information, compliance becomes even more critical when dealing with unstructured data.  

Let’s explore this further… 

What are the 4 overlooked risks when it comes to compliance and security?  

1. Data Loss: With so much unstructured data being stored across a variety of systems and applications, it’s easy for data to become lost or inaccessible. This can pose a significant compliance risk, particularly if the lost data contains sensitive information such as personal data or financial records. To mitigate this risk, organisations should implement a comprehensive data backup and recovery strategy. This should include regular backups of all critical data, as well as a plan for restoring data in the event of a disaster. 
2. Data Breaches: While many companies focus on protecting against external cyber threats, data breaches can also occur internally. It can be difficult to keep track of who has access to what information. This can lead to accidental or intentional data breaches, which can be costly in terms of both compliance and security. To mitigate this risk, organisations should implement strict access controls and regularly review and update them. This can help ensure that only authorised personnel have access to sensitive data. 
3. Data Privacy: It’s easy for companies to run afoul of privacy regulations with continuous growing amounts of data. This can lead to costly fines and damage to a company’s reputation. To mitigate this risk, organisations should implement a comprehensive information governance strategy. This should include policies and procedures for handling sensitive data, as well as regular training for employees on data privacy and security best practices. 
4. Data Retention: It can be difficult for companies to keep track of how long they are required to retain certain types of data. This can lead to compliance risks if data is retained for too long or disposed of too soon. To mitigate this risk, organisations should implement a comprehensive data retention policy. This should include guidelines for how long different types of data should be retained, as well as procedures for disposing of data in a secure and compliant manner. 

In conclusion, the exponential growth in data has become a pressing challenge for countless organisations. Amid this data deluge, it’s crucial to recognise that this surge comes with a host of compliance and security risks that are frequently underestimated. To safeguard the integrity of sensitive information, businesses must go beyond the basics. 

By proactively adopting a multifaceted approach, companies can not only navigate these potential pitfalls but also fortify their data infrastructure. This entails implementing a comprehensive data backup and recovery strategy, fortifying access controls, embracing an all-encompassing information governance framework, and crafting a prudent data retention policy. These measures are not just safeguards; they’re the linchpins that enable organisations to confidently and compliantly manage the ever-mounting data they generate and store, ensuring a secure and thriving future. 

Need to manage your uncontrolled data growth? 

Automated Intelligence’s Remediate and Governance solution as part of our cloud-hosted Datalift platform cleanses and identifies ROT (redundant, obsolete and trivial) data within 24 hours of deployment, enabling the removal of low value content, releasing disk space and ensuring that the information is accurate, up-to-date and useable.  

If your organisation needs to better manage its uncontrolled data and unstructured data, contact us today to learn how we can help you to keep compliance and security in check. To find out more on how our solution can help you to minimise undetected threats and data breaches, visit our website for further information www.automated-intelligence.com or contact us on info@automated-intelligence.com