First Things First: Know and Prioritize Your Risk in Data Security

Fortify your risk posture by shifting focus from network security to data-centric security for more robust cyber defense.

Cyberattacks are one of the most onerous threats faced by businesses today. Not only is cybercrime skyrocketing in volume, it is also increasing in AI/ML-powered sophistication, danger, and cost. Globally, cybercrime is forecasted to cost more than $24 trillion by 2027.

Despite this massive and growing threat, it’s helpful to know that security blind spots—the points of vulnerability and attacks—can be reduced and controlled. But fortifying security is about your data. Many organizations are concerned with their perimeter and network security to minimize risks. With the rising adoption of cloud computing and the increasing frequency of insider threats; however, this outside-in perspective is no longer practical. A better approach is to position your vantage point to where your most sensitive and critical business data resides, creating a more accurate view of your risk posture. Data-level cybersecurity safeguards the information itself, while network-level cybersecurity protects the infrastructure that transports data.

Today, most organizations do not know where their critical data resides or its level of risk. That’s why Imperva, a Thales company, focuses on helping companies efficiently identify critical data and the risks associated with that data. Once that data intelligence foundation is established, organizations can better assess their most pressing risks and take action to safeguard data, streamline audits, and achieve compliance.

Keep evolving your security tools

As cybercriminals leverage the latest innovations, you must also keep pace. That is why Imperva is delivering the latest evolution in security functionality known as Data Risk Intelligence, which will quickly become a vital capability of the Imperva Data Security Fabric (DSF).

Imperva’s Data Risk Intelligence solution addresses the reality that most data teams do not have a comprehensive picture of their risk profile because the information is spread across siloed repositories throughout the data estate, spanning too many vendors, products, and consoles. DSF Data Risk Intelligence serves as a unified viewpoint where all data risk information is accumulated and rationalized to prioritize data risk incidents. In addition, Data Risk Intelligence allows customizable risk scoring that aligns with specific business needs and risk tolerance.

Without knowledge of where critical data risk information resides, organizations are trying to piece together a puzzle without a picture of what the puzzle looks like in aggregate. In other words, without an eagle’s eye view of your data estate, it’s impossible to create an accurate view of your data and risks, exacerbating security blind spots. DSF Data Risk Intelligence was built to help organizations uncover these blind spots and rank their relative importance within the entire data estate, along with actionable, prioritized recommendations to reduce their risk.

Think about this…

“You can’t solve a problem you don’t know you have. But, you also may NOT be focusing on a problem because you don’t know how big it is.”

Alerts help. But how do you know that one alert is more important than another?

For example, consider Rob Turnis, a data security expert in the financial sector. He knows the foundational step to improving cybersecurity “all comes down to protecting the data.”  To protect data, Rob first needed to find out where all of his organization’s critical data resided. As a result of doing that, Rob now secures over 1,500 databases across his organization and continuously enhances tools and intelligence to stay ahead of malicious trends.

Gain clarity to prioritize the use of finite resources

The traditional approach of relying on perimeter and network security to reduce data risk risks no longer provides sufficient protection (see “Did You Know” callout below). While helpful, perimeter-focused security allows highly vulnerable blind spots to go undetected, muddying the view of an organization’s risk posture. Instead, organizations need to focus on understanding where their most sensitive and business-critical data is located and how users, devices, APIs, and applications interact with that data. The result? Better visibility of data posture and risk levels, facilitating more informed decisions about whether assets are “secure enough” based on criticality, classification, and an organization’s specific risk tolerances. Ultimately, organizations gain more robust defense.

Did you know?

Network-level security does not protect against insider threats. Yet, 83% of organizations report at least one insider attack. Organizations that experienced 11-20 insider attacks increased 5X from 2023 to 2024. Perimeter security is insufficient in providing adequate cyber protection.

DSF Data Risk Intelligence is a unique and future-forward solution. Leveraging AI/ML behavior indicators, posture-based indicators, encryption status information, and tailored analytics, the solution identifies your most critical data risks by severity and likelihood, thereby enabling prioritized risk mitigation and avoiding steep business consequences. Further, the solution makes recommendations for the remediation of top risks, shortening the time to mitigation.

For example, a large, global manufacturing company recognized the need to protect its employees’ sensitive, personally identifiable information. The critical data, containing employee social security numbers, salaries, and compensation information, was housed in numerous databases around the world, making the privacy and protection of this data vital. DSF Data Risk Intelligence was able to identify the encryption status of the data stores, and the Thales CipherTrust Data Security Platform was used to deploy its encryption strategy. Security was further enhanced by preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data, thereby reducing the risk posture for the large manufacturer.

Improve your risk posture

Around the world, across industries, and for companies of all sizes, data vulnerabilities are significant and rising. Security blind spots create an easier entry point for malicious actors, but there are remedies to uncover, manage, and de-risk those blind spots. Doing so is an urgent imperative.

As one of the most intensely targeted industries for cyberattacks, the healthcare industry hosts both financial and protected patient health information. One hospital took action to more comprehensively protect patient privacy data and maintain regulatory compliance. With competing priorities on where to spend the IT cybersecurity budget, the hospital first uncovered where their most sensitive information resided and at what risk levels. Without that information, organizations are “flying blind” to the easy access points that exist for ransomware attacks and insider threats.

Organizations must adopt dynamic approaches to understanding their entire data estate and the risk profile of their most critical data, then take steps to reduce those risks. DSF Data Risk Intelligence helps organizations do this quickly and effectively to prioritize risk mitigation by:

• Fusing insights to unify risk indicators with specialized analytics for accurate risk scores;
• Prioritizing events with a focus on high-risk, high-impact events to avoid business consequences; and,
• Speeding actions with specific recommended action to shorten time to mitigation.

When it comes to fortifying your cybersecurity capabilities, the time to act is now, while prevention is still an option.

Learn more about Data Security Fabric Data Risk Intelligence.