Classify data: Once the audit is complete, data should be classified based on its sensitivity and importance to the organization and put into “buckets” that include personal identifiable information (PII), financial data, intellectual property, or sensitive business information. This step should include determining how old the data is, separating the “good” data from the redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data, and flagging any data that is no longer needed for immediate destruction via data sanitization.
Mitigate risks from cloned data: The duplication of data from indonesia whatsapp number data on-prem to the cloud is a common problem for businesses. Not only does this increase the data stored (and costs for storage), it also increases the risk of data theft due to a breach. the clone issue is to identify which data has been duplicated and where it is located. An investigation into data location can provide a better understanding of how it was cloned and who may have unauthorized access to it. Cloned data may also include sensitive information and/or PII. Using safeguards such as encryption can protect data whether it is in transit or “at rest.” Finally, cloned data should be securely erased from all storage locations and backups.
Data Retention Policies for the AI Era
As organizations embrace AI, they must also align data lifecycle and retention policies. Once the audit, classification, and investigation phases are complete, companies will be better positioned to update retention policies to reflect today’s IT environment.