Big data is impacting every area of business. No matter where you go or what you do, your behaviors are being captured for a variety of purposes. While your online buying behaviors are being tracked to help retailers maximize sales opportunities, you may also appreciate some of the benefits, like being offered a similar product with a better customer rating.
As a result of the advanced technology for collecting data, analyzing it and using those analyses to inform business decisions, data has become increasingly important for businesses. Your data related to customer files, product pricing and inventory and sales history needs to be protected with a security strategy designed for big data.
What some companies risk is the vulnerability of microdata as they pursue solutions to protect their big data assets. The massive files related to product pricing and inventory will always receive prioritized attention in terms of security, but what about the sensors that pick up inventory information? For instance, if you are storing bulk degreasing solutions that will later be bottled and the sensor on the vat of solution is malfunctioning, is that microdata somehow captured?
To get a sense of the role of microdata, it’s helpful to think in terms of credential data. Every system requires credentials for users to access applications, and these types of microdata files are critical. You’d never want them compromised or exposed. Without these files, there’s no access to anything else, yet they often represent one of the more vulnerable areas in enterprise IT.
Determining how to protect microdata is becoming a greater concern for enterprises as sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) technology are implemented to streamline business processes. There also need to be plans in place to protect the data should a sensor fail or the network isn’t prepared to handle the flow of data from sensors.
Companies spend a lot of time protecting big data. There are disaster recovery strategies and backups intended to protect against data loss or theft and corruption. Yet little time is ever dedicated to the actual applications, configuration files or a variety of other small data entities that can be vulnerable and cause a loss of data.
Replication and Duplication: It’s important that both big data and microdata be replicated and duplicated on a regular basis to protect the integrity of the data. Incremental backups are important for being able to go back to a certain time and pull that data, but only a complete duplication of data allows for enough protection.
To learn more about the protection of vulnerable microdata files or about a broader big data security strategy, contact us at Truth Comm. We are your trusted partner and can help you leverage the best technology to protect all types of data critical to your business success.