Data classification - why and how to do it
Every organization has sensitive data – from valuable IP to Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to customer databases – and you don’t want it getting into the wrong hands. Yet in most cases, if data is lost by your employees, it is by accident not intent.
Therefore, if you could make your people consider data sensitivity first, you would solve most of the problem. Data classification (email and documents) does precisely that: it makes everyone aware of sensitivity at the moment they read a document or an email.
So, what is data classification?
In IT security, data classification is assigning a security tag or marking - for instance Personal, Public or Confidential - to every document and email when it’s created and, when you make it mandatory, it has 2 main benefits:
- It ensures that everyone thinks about security every time they create a document
- It lightens the load on your IT team by making everyone responsible for data security.
How will it help you?
Data classification is a simple solution to the complex problem of data security – and can address 80% of the problem for a fraction of the cost of other security solutions. Data classification:
- Adds meaning and context to your information
- Affirms the relevance of information security
- Raises security awareness and fosters a security culture
- Ensures there are no exceptions
- Enhances performance of existing security systems
How easy is it?
With Janusnet, data classification is fast and easy to do. We’ve developed the Janusseal suite which has plugins for most popular Microsoft® applications (email and documents) and for most popular browsers (for webmail), so you can quickly classify all your documents and emails.
To make it easy for you and your staff, first make it clear to them that accidental loss is the priority and you’re helping them to address it. A popular sequence to do this is:
- Classify emails first so you’re controlling the main exit point
- Classify documents next (structured and unstructured)
- Add automated tools to speed up classification.
Learn more about the Janusseal for Outlook, or Janusseal Documents, find out what to avoid in The 11 most common mistakes that derail data classification projects, or contact us (to discuss your data security priorities). If protecting sensitive date on mobile devices is important to you, find out about Janusgate Mobile.
