Many executives are focused on the potential business benefits of big data and analytics. However, the IT department may be more concerned about the security implications. That gap may slow big data adoption in many companies, but at least security is becoming part of the discussion.
Voltage Security polled more than 300 IT professionals at Infosecurity Europe in April. Three out of four senior-level IT and security professionals said the inability to secure data across big data initiatives gave them pause. In fact, Voltage reported that security concerns may stall 56 percent of big data and cloud projects.
“This is a huge roadblock for organizations that are ready to reap the benefits of big data,” Dave Anderson, senior director of marketing at Voltage, said in a press release. “The majority of large and mid-size organizations are finding that an inability to protect sensitive data within a big data environment is a major concern, so while they may be starting projects, they are abandoning them. That’s not good for business.”
Anderson told us in an interview that, even though security is a huge stumbling block for organisations of all sizes hoping to undertake a big data initiative, there are signs that things may be changing.
Even a few years ago, security was just a complete afterthought for many organisations looking at big data. As companies get more aware of big data and get a better understanding of where their data resides and exists within a big data environment, and realizing that it comes collectively from massive new data sources, it has been really interesting to see that companies are starting to realise the security implications more.
As organisations weigh the massive value in big data and analytics against the security complexities, they are realising that getting the security piece right from the beginning is critical from the compliance, privacy, and security perspectives. “IT is beginning to understand that it can’t automatically say no to management any more for the sake of security,” Anderson told us. “We’ve seen improvement on that front and expect that to continue.”
Moving forward, he recommends that organisations focus on:
- Creating solid alignment between the executive management and IT management to understand the potential for breaches and how to protect against them
- Identifying and implementing technologies and processes that allow managers to share sensitive corporate information with stakeholders and let employees pull that information over the cloud in a protected fashion to achieve business objectives.
By working together, management and IT can move business-growing big data and cloud initiatives forward in safe and secure ways.
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@Hailey – The heading says it all “Big data demands big security”. Yes big data needs high security as data is the most important component for a business, some say it’s more important than cash. Big data in the wrong hands could turn your business upside down.
Many business still have loop holes when it comes to data security, the same applies to big data. Big data Is all your hard collected data, this has your customer behavior and other important information that need high security,
it wouldn’t have provided the same alliterantion but we could have said “Big data demands comprehensive security.” the challenge of big data is that the data is highly spread out and in many systems and formats. that’s challenging–but recovering from a data breach is definitely worse.
If you want to read more about data breaches, i would highly recommend the Verizon Data Breach Report which was released a few weeks ago. There’s a lot of good info but one of the key takeaways is that SMBs are becoming increasingly targets of data breaches. Small companies can have a lot of valuable data–or clear access to big partners with lots of valuable data.
@Shehan Ahamed: Security issues are there but not in a high way where the big data concept is being put into risk. Any company has the risk but most of them get things under control most of the time.
@Hailey – It’s always good to have you r policies set top ensure there is no data security breach. As you said preventing a breach is always better than the repercussions you have to face after a data breach.
@Hailey – Thanks for sharing it’s indeed a great report to understand how risky environment we live in, and how a breach could impact a company’s reputation.
@N De Silva – yes it’s always good to have polies to protect against a data breach; you never know how one could happen. We need to be prepared and ensure everything is set right from our end to minimize the damage.
There’s some shocking stats as well on how long it takes for companies to discover a breach, which I don’t have to hand at present. We talk about data breaches, and I think we’re really talking about the tip of the iceberg.
@ Rob – Stats were indicative of 210 days average (Trstwave – PDF).
There are methods to shorten that discovery period significantly.
That’s right. I did an interview with Trustwave at the time, thanks for remind me Joe.
@Robert Brown – true most companies don’t realize that they have a data breach until authorities inform them. Data breaches are really bad on the reputation of the company and could lead to fines from authorities.
@JOE AWUNI – Thanks for sharing the document, it’s really useful and informative.
Rob I think you are right. The discovery of data breach depends upon after how long you re visit your data and ensures it security. There might be methods where it can be automatically indicated. But in whatever case the earlier the discovery the better will be its remedy.
shehan I think the breach of data is directly related to the companys priority to the data storage and its security. If the breach is made public that will definitely effect the reputation ofg the company in short run but definitely its finances in the long.
There is much that companies can do to improve the likelyhood that they are notified first when an incident occurs and in a manner that minimises any impact upon reputation and brand. There is also much that companies are currently doing that is preventing this from happening and where poor practise could often be turned around quickly and with minimal cost. I am seeing much that can be done to improve things in firms large and small and I feel that there is a need for crisis management teams to work more closely with security teams on improving the flow… Read more »
I think complete data is not very important and its loss will have not mucg effect on companys outcome but some data do have. I think where companys cannot provide security to complete data I think at least most important data needs to be monitored 24x7x365 to avoid and notify any breach immediately.
Joe thanks for sharing the document. It was quite informative. The statistics were thought provoking isnt it.
same here thank interesting document, wealth of info make me think, what else I do not know…
@Shehan Ahamed: Yes but its not that easy to track the issues. Anyway being vigilant is enough so they know that we are watching and there is a possibility that they can get caught.