The IT Leader's Guide to Data Security and Governance

How to enhance your data security and governance using the Salesforce Platform.
COVID-19 threw the spotlight on digital — for both its strengths and shortcomings. On the one hand, CIOs became instant pioneers in digital transformation — critical leaders with visions for moving brick-and-mortar operations online and saving company legacies.
 
On the other hand, virtual spaces created new territory for cyberattacks, data leaks, company breaches, and internal threats. Phishing attempts rose 600% and cloud-based attacks rose 630%, according to a 2020 report from IBM. The cost of data breaches averages $3.86 million in the United States, let alone the nonmonetary erosion of company buy-in, brand integrity, and trust. Chief information officers (CIOs) and chief information security officers (CISOs) now face exponential pressure to not only keep the lights on but also address monumental demands that could determine the future of their company.
As companies go all-digital, it’s important to stay safe, secure, and compliant. Our goal is to show you how to create trusted digital environments so that your company can feel secure in a work-from-anywhere world. We want everyone within your organization to understand their important role in security. And we want to equip you with resources that eliminate virtual vulnerabilities.

6 Ways to Get Your Data Security in Top Shape:

 
 
 
 

How can business secure their data in this digital first world? Read the IT Guide to Data Security and Governance to find out.

 
 

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1. Build on a Secure and Trusted Platform

Success is built on trust and transparency.

These values can only be established through impenetrable virtual environments. Security, therefore, is the foundation of any successful business goal.

To be truly protected, you need to prioritize security across your company and empower everyone in your organization on a trusted platform. This way, everyone from admins and business users to professional developers can focus on security at the first step.

A secure platform disintegrates silos. It allows IT and lines of business to work together in finding new and effective ways of protecting customer data. This means everyone across your organization can have a vested interest in security no matter the customer lifecycle stage; everyone plays an important role in your company’s digital transformation.

Embedding security and privacy controls in the app dev process not only helps you to deliver value faster and increase the pace of innovation but also to be your customers’ trusted advisor. And trust is a must for any loyal customer.

2. Encrypt, Monitor, and Retain Critical Data

Companies of all sizes and industries are using cloud infrastructure to run their businesses faster.

As sensitive data moves to the cloud, security and compliance requirements become more complex for CIOs and CISOs. IT teams are now expected to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive information to meet external and internal compliance requirements. Business processes must stay efficient, despite compliance auditing often taking place manually through spreadsheets, email, and interviews. This siloing of work makes it difficult to identify and stop technological leaks in real time; it also makes it tough to find insights on data misuse to improve future operations.
 
Layers of security can help. By providing visibility into data, companies can monitor user behavior, track changes, and adjust as necessary before a breach occurs. And with 52% of CIOs forecasting that work from home will only continue to increase this next year, Gartner research solidifies the need for monitoring remote-work gaps. IT is responsible for identifying and preventing malicious user actions in real time based on contexts such as device, profile, and location.
The most vigilant companies invest in dynamic solutions that shield orgs from insider threats and encrypt data at rest. Comprehensive systems also have the ability to measure productivity and ROI, retain data history for compliance, and ultimately enable greater performance. Retaining data history is an essential part of IT governance strategy. How your company has evolved in the past gives a full-picture view of your data integrity today. But this view is also useful for looking forward, enabling massive scalability and insights on where you can go in the future.

3. Protect Sensitive Data When Building and Testing Apps

Everyone wants to build innovative customer experiences fast.

But if your apps contain sensitive data, there are regulations that require limited access for certain employees and contractors. And noncompliance issues and data breaches can result in loss of customer trust. This is why sandboxes are so important. Sandboxes are true mirrors of production. They let your company scale safely by enabling virtual environments to be tested before being formally released.

First, you need a simple app development platform that can still manage complex requirements on the back end. The right platform reduces the risk, complexity, and costs of compliance — while still letting your company accelerate as a leader for customer-facing apps.

Next, help teams build test applications while protecting regulated data. Proper testing environments allow you to replace sensitive data — such as personally identifiable information (PII) and credit card details — with random characters and numbers, data from built-in libraries, or customizable patterns. This unique security builds customer trust and also lets your company continuously innovate at scale.

4. Take Control of Your Privacy and Data Management

Creating connected experiences for your customers comes with an influx of data. And that information needs to be protected.

Data privacy is more than just following regulations; it is about building trust with customers. From obtaining customer consent to giving customers control of their data to treating data properly, customers want to trust that their information is routinely safe with any business.

Bringing a privacy program to life doesn’t have to be challenging. Businesses simply need efficient tools to take control of privacy management through every stage of the data lifecycle.

This is where analytics dashboards help businesses keep privacy and compliance at the core of what they do, as opposed to being an afterthought that leads to regulation penalties. The best systems comply with regulations like GDPR and CCPA and can be done with a few clicks, rather than creating headaches and wasting money paying off fines. Instead of bogging a business down, retention policy and data subject rights can be automated processes. This automation doesn’t just make it easier on your employees — it builds up customer loyalty through a robust, cohesive privacy and data management program.

5. Get Complete Visibility into the Security Posture Environment

Consistent policies across IT environments secure your future.

IT environments sprawl across multiple orgs, multiple clouds, and multiple places to store data — even within a single company. Often little or no cross-visibility exists. This lack of unification invites bad players (both inside and outside the company) to easily find weak spots, and inconsistent security leaves your business open to potential exploitation.

To meet these security challenges, we believe that companies must now empower their admins with complete and centralized visibility. Centralized dashboards empower security teams and admins to monitor and review security settings for all their orgs. With these dashboards, admins and security teams can take a deep dive into the security health of their system. They get visibility into the security posture, view key metrics, and quickly identify threats and anomalies. Having this single-pane-of-glass operational view simplifies monitoring and mitigates risk. Teams respond faster, saving companies from the embarrassment of data breach and — more importantly — loss of customer trust.

6. Secure your Mobile Apps for Highly Regulated Industries

Simple, click-based systems are key to mobile security.

As the world transitions into a remote stage, CIOs and CISOs rely more on mobile apps and devices to ensure a secure mobile workforce. But as mobile usage grows, so does the attack surface for malicious intent. Businesses and employees are vulnerable to phishing, malware attacks, rogue network access, and other cybersecurity threats.
 
The stakes are especially high in industries such as finance and healthcare, where businesses and employees must adhere to HIPAA and PCI compliance regulations when managing sensitive customer data. Banks alone have seen a 238% increase in attacks in the wake of coronavirus disruption.
To ensure a secure mobile workforce, advanced security features need to be both airtight and easy to integrate. With simple, click-based systems, businesses can go through a frictionless setup experience to protect data: no cumbersome code or third-party technology required. Businesses need to have the flexibility to add new attributes, define security policies, customize login practices, and finesse the process until they’ve achieved the desired results. This empowers teams to implement a strong mobile security foundation that doesn’t slow down employees. With built-in mobile app security, security teams can detect unauthorized usage, prevent data loss, and establish strong security policies that keep employees safe on the go.

Secure your data with the Salesforce Platform.

If your apps are built on a foundation of trusted security, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are. Your data will be safe, as long as you have the right systems in place.

If you want complex data protection that’s simple to implement, you need a single source of truth that’s only accessible to the right people. Given today’s economy of trust, it’s vital to know that your hardware, your software, and everything in between is working properly. For your customers ... and your reputation.

Innovate with peace of mind. The Salesforce Platform means you don’t have to choose between what’s compliant or what’s cutting edge. Now, security can actually speed up your transformative app development.

 

Learn more about our data security solutions today.

 

More resources

 
Webinar
How to Enhance Trust, Compliance, and Governance Across Critical Apps
Trail
Secure Your Apps with Salesforce Shield
 
 

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