Importance of data archiving for effective data protection

Data protection: A quick overview

The entire purpose behind data security is to protect essential business-critical data from unauthorized access, bad actors (cyber criminals), breaches, theft, and so on. Interestingly, another term for data security is cybersecurity, which is a set of procedures and tools backed by strong policies, like data encryption, network monitoring, and password management. As a matter of fact, such policies are deliberately put in place to protect data from internal or external security threats.

If you take a closer look at the current scenario, cybercrimes are spread across almost all industries, such as IT, retail, lifestyle, and, surprisingly, the government as well. It could have a devastating effect on organisations, even if they face a single attack. Furthermore, the more data businesses contain, the more vulnerable their SAP solutions are to data breaches. If your systems are not properly patched or updated, it will lead to more vulnerabilities. That's why, with the help of data archiving, companies must enhance their data security measures to protect their sensitive data and systems.

What vulnerabilities do organisations face in their systems?

Phishing or hacking scams are not the only ways to attack anymore. In fact, criminal minds are evolving to be more malicious with advancements in technology. Furthermore, the IT infrastructure of all sorts of different organisations is threatened by internal entities, nation-states, spies, and much more. With that in mind, breaches have also evolved into IoT attacks, Cyber Crime-as-a-Service (CCaaS), cloud breaches, supply chain attacks, Advanced Persistent Threats, SQL injection, and many more.

For effective data protection measures, it is critical for you to understand that the vulnerabilities in your systems can come from any source, such as:

• Poor data encryption

• Outdated or unpatched software

• Misconfiguration in the systems

• Inadequate authorisation processes

• Weak password credentials

How does data archiving help ensure compliance?

Ensuring compliance with the help of data archiving is a continuous process that allows you to adhere to regulations, laws, and policies for improved governance of business activities. It is one of the most sought-after approaches that help identify, understand, and implement requirements for effective compliance. Furthermore, by meeting legal requirements, archiving also helps organisations mitigate any risks associated with it, and eliminates the chances of reputational damages and hefty legal penalties. In fact, businesses can build trust between stakeholders by complying with legal and regulatory requirements, which ensure ethical business practices. 

For effective and uninterrupted operability of SAP solutions, organisations must take legal compliance seriously, or else, failure to comply with the regulations will impact their heavy investment in the solutions and will lead to financial damages in the future. Aside from this, if businesses do not meet their compliance obligations, they will have to face unwanted repercussions in the form of disciplinary actions, civil liability, and loss of reputation.

Role of data privacy for regulatory compliance 

With data archiving, organisations can successfully protect their data and enjoy its numerous benefits. However, one important question comes to mind: Why is protecting the data so important? It's because they have to ensure data privacy in order to comply with data privacy regulations. Let's understand more about that in this section.

For your general understanding, data privacy refers to the overall management of sensitive personal information. This information can be anything like health records, financial data, social security numbers, and so on, that organisations store in their SAP solutions or systems. However, in the context of business, data privacy extends beyond the aforementioned examples, such as supplier data, employee data, company agreements, confidential contract data, business strategies, and so on. In fact, here are some of the reasons why data privacy is critical for organisations:

• Helps preserve an individual's autonomy

• Ensures ethical data management practices

• Builds trust and confidence amongst stakeholders, clients and employees

• Allows you to access data-driven, actionable insights, keeping in mind data privacy best practices

As a matter of fact, there are various data privacy regulations in place to ensure the protection of critical information, such as GDPR in the EU, Loi 25 in Quebec, CCPA in California, DPDP in India, and so on. To comply with such data privacy laws, organisations must store and secure their data using effective data archiving best practices.

Why is it critical to ensure the security of your SAP systems?

SAP solutions play a significant role in organisations, managing business-critical data, which includes financial, organisational, and personal data. A breach in data security through data leaks, financial fraud, or system downtime may lead to some serious consequences. That's why it becomes quintessential for organisations to preserve that business-critical data and store it in another location, protecting it from unwanted threats. 

Conclusion 

You have explored how data archiving plays a pivotal role in data protection for organisations. As you explored in this article, archiving is not just limited to improving system performance and reducing maintenance costs, but its advantages can help you ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. However, keep in mind that this process requires appropriate domain knowledge and industry expertise to make it effective and bring desirable results. That's why it becomes critical for businesses to get help from an expert to implement the entire process. An ideal partner can help navigate the complexities of the project and make the entire process seamless for your organisation. So, without further ado, reach out to an expert for valuable advice and effective project implementation.