Enabling enterprise data privacy and security with big data

Enterprises rely on insightful customer trends derived from big data every time a user is connected to the internet. Their personal information combined with usage patterns is tracked by mobile phones, laptops, smart TVs, automobile systems, and home appliances like refrigerators and thermostats. The internet-connected devices ecosystem is booming, and the amount of behavioral data being stored and shared is multiplying significantly. A release by IDC on Asia Pacific IoT spending indicated a strong rebound for the industry, expecting to reach USD 288.6 billion in 2021.

Such rapid growth raises concerns about the complexity around data privacy and security and makes it essential for companies to develop a trusted data security framework to prevent customer privacy from being compromised on various platforms.

Integrating data security into the core

Businesses of all sizes are leaning towards practical extensive data analysis and IoT to access significant user trends, formulate intelligent solutions to complex business problems and enhance their core operations. Big data collects sensitive information from various data sources worldwide, and unsafe data pipelines or processing methods might leave this information vulnerable in transit or at the start. Hence, it is critical to building data security into the core of cloud operations and not just a peripheral feature.

Enterprises must invest in modern data infrastructure and tools to protect unstructured big data sets and valued data analysis from offline and online invaders. Businesses with the best data security practices safeguard customer data and minimize risk and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Monitoring data closely to detect threats

Diverse industries like healthcare, education, telecommunication, media and entertainment, fintech, and e-commerce generate dynamic and unique big data sets, which come with high complexities concerning endpoint security. A unified big data platform integrates data from various sources into a single location making analysis more simple, secure, and risk-free. It empowers analysts to break free from data silos, better manage and structure valuable data points, and resolve security issues arising from disparate and legacy data systems.

Today, it is indispensable for big data and cloud platforms to implement enhanced data governance with automated role-based access controls, ongoing risk assessments, batch deletion processes, and sensitive data de-identification to safeguard customer data. Advanced access control mechanisms allow data sharing without moving or copying it. This prevents data from falling into unauthorized hands and ensures that the suitable viewers have immediate and flexible access to structured data insights.

Improved big data management also enables effective internal and external collaboration while protecting sensitive data in a strictly regulated environment. Further, businesses can rely on big data analytics to benefit from data-minimization where outdated, unnecessary information is separated and deleted to reduce storage risks.

Secure and resilient infrastructure

Increased connectivity can lead to high vulnerabilities and possibilities of cyber attackers penetrating an organization's network. But with a dynamic security framework ingrained into the core services of a data platform, businesses can adapt to complex and evolving big data computational methods, enabling data teams to monitor data in real-time and exercise control when needed. In that way, they are better prepared to resolve issues proactively and accelerate efficiency.

Enabling a security audit framework over the large scale of big data equips an enterprise to avert malicious risks, safeguard personal information with almost zero manual intervention, make user authentication reliable, track unauthorized and suspicious access into the critical data generated by IoT devices, and source real-time insights to empower continuous scaling without violating customer privacy.

Organizations can demonstrate their commitment to securing customer data by leveraging a big data platform compliant with regional, national regulations and critical security and compliance certifications, demonstrating transparency and greater customer privacy. This empowers them to enable trust with a privacy strategy that can safeguard data in a hassle-free manner.

The author is Country Head of Snowflake India