Data Protection

Data Protection, as the name suggests is the term that goes for protection and safeguarding of some important information from any kind of unauthorized access, manipulation, corruption or loss. It refers to the legal protection of personal or commercial data that is highly sensitive and needs to be safeguarded. It is a technology of protecting data and useful information from any kind of deliberate damage or unlawful access.

One may wonder then, what is the need to spend money, time, and effort on data protection!!!

The basic need is minimizing financial loss, followed by compliance with regulatory requirements, maintaining high levels of productivity, and meeting customer expectations.  Data is recognized as an important corporate asset that needs to be safeguarded and protected from any kind of damage. Loss of information can lead to direct financial losses, such as lost sales, fines, or monetary judgments. It can also cause indirect losses from the effects of a drop in investor confidence or customers fleeing to competitors.

Another basic need is the maintenance of the productivity of any organization.  Loss of important data lowers overall productivity, as employees have to deal with time-consuming customer issues without the aid of computer databases. Data loss also results in application failures and similar system problems, making it difficult for people to do their jobs. A poor data protection strategy may leave people waiting for long periods of time for systems to be restored after a failure. During that time, employees may be idle or able to work only in a reduced capacity, further diminishing the productivity.

Thus, few data protection principles must be kept in mind before starting to generate data. Some of the very  basic principles include ensuring that the data is:

• used fairly and lawfully
• used for limited, specifically stated purposes
• used in a way that is adequate and relevant
• accurate
• kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
• kept safe and secure

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