more detail
DataPhoenix provides data governance consulting that helps you deliver secure, high-performing and resilient solutions and meet your security objectives.
Why is data security so important? GDPR has done more than anything else to underline the importance of good data management and enforcing appropriate data security measures. Together with high-profile data breaches and wide-reaching security incidents, it has brought data security to the attention of the boardroom.
The effects of GDPR aren’t limited to Europe either: governments around the world are following suit, implementing similar measures to ensure that privacy and the personal data of individuals are appropriately protected.
Moving data security up the corporate agenda is a good thing, especially where data architectures are built around security by design, and people, processes and technology are suitably scoped, implemented and maintained.
However, the focus on improved data security can challenge existing architectures that gave security too little attention. Retrofitting good policies, practices and technologies can be hard, but it has to be done.
Under the ‘integrity and confidentiality’ principle of the GDPR, organisations must ensure, and be able to demonstrate, that they have appropriate security measures in place to protect the personal data they hold.
DataPhoenix can help you meet your corporate, compliance and best-practice requirements, whether you are building new with security in sharp focus or bringing that focus to existing data architectures.
Governance works best when it is designed in at the architecture stage, as part of data architecture and strategy.
Security by design is integral to how DataPhoenix works, and the team takes a ‘security first’ approach. Data security expertise is an important reason why our clients choose DataPhoenix to help them create data lakes and data infrastructure on AWS.
Existing deployments that did not follow best practice can be put right, and DataPhoenix can help you retrofit security best practices. Security best practice requires multi-faceted solutions that cover the three essential data security topics of policies, people and technology. As with any project, we will start with a detailed audit of your current architectures and technology tools, your current policies and practices, and your team. We’ll also review the compliance requirements you have that are unique to your industry or organisation.
This will enable us to gain a clear understanding of potential vulnerabilities that require action. In this way, we can develop a data security programme that is unique to your organisation. Each programme will be a blend of technology solutions and adaptations, a clearly stated framework of policies built around your organisation’s unique goals and responsibilities, and the staff mentoring and coaching required to ensure that data security is at the heart of your organisation’s data architecture.
AWS provides a number of frameworks and tools that support data security best practices.
Data lifecycle and retention. Governance covers how long data is kept as well as who can see it. DataPhoenix designs a lifecycle in which data is kept by default, because a question asked next year can only be answered from data collected before it was asked. One platform default applies to all data and can be overridden per source, with legal and privacy requirements taking precedence over source policy, and source policy over the default. Each dataset moves from active to archived, then to review, where it is kept, downsampled or deleted, and each decision is recorded. The reasoning is set out in keep it by default.
Exceptions with a record. Where a control cannot be met, the exception is recorded with the business need, the affected data, the compensating controls, a remediation date and a review date, so accepted gaps stay visible and time-bound.
This way, we embed our best practices in your team, making handover easy and helping to ensure data security is maintained and developed over time. We know this is vital. Because of the fast-moving nature of our sector, it is all too easy for the attention of IT to move to the newest and shiniest tools or technology and for attention to slip when it comes to implementing essential day-to-day security maintenance.
The financial penalties of the GDPR, and the responsibilities owed to the people whose data you hold, mean that attention cannot slip when it comes to data security. DataPhoenix can help you meet those responsibilities now and into the future.
DataPhoenix builds data governance into the platform from the start, including practical controls such as automated deletion of personal data when a client asks.
Governance work is tied to the business case, so you know the risk it removes and the value it protects before you commit budget.
Ready to put AI to work on your data? Get in touch with the DataPhoenix team.