With Data Privacy Day around the corner, it’s encouraging to see Australia moving in the right direction with the proposed changes to the Privacy Act. However, it is imperative for organisations to go beyond regulatory compliance and proactively safeguard sensitive data.
Organisations are now collecting and storing more data than ever. This trend will only continue as organisations invest in leveraging more AI initiatives in 2024.
Parallel to this, organisations are relying on third-parties to protect data without ever validating how it is protected, stored or even interconnected with other organisations. There is often a lack of understanding on who can access the data and of even more concern the business impact if it were to be compromised.
This is one of the reasons organisations should be adopting a robust and comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. One in which identities are front and center. Identity security is paramount to a zero-trust security mindset. We must never trust but always verify what the identity is doing and if abnormal activity is detected we must challenge that identity in real time by seamlessly applying security controls to validate the action.
We must start by understanding how an identity accesses information and the value of that data, after this we can start to apply the appropriate level of security controls. A pattern of usual behavior will be established and then any deviation can be challenged in real time.
Ultimately, data privacy and safety goes beyond compliance – it’s about a holistic approach to cybersecurity, with identity at its core.
