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Enterprise Content Management: Securing Unstructured Data
How secure are your documents? Files are often stored on shared drives, in collaborative software like Microsoft SharePoint, and in enterprise content management systems. Because of the benefits of collaboration, many enterprises are adopting software applications that encourage collaborative working. The flip side to these benefits though are the challenges involved in securing documents and data.
86% of companies report that they are seeing an increase in the number of documents that they must retain and manage. 46% say that compared to last year they need to contend with an increased number of collaboration sites, like web portals. That is the result of June 2009 survey from Aberdeen Research.
The Aberdeen report notes that security of unstructured data used in collaboration is a leading inhibitor to investment in collaborative technologies. The problem stems from a lack of clear ownership and lack of consistent policies around handling unstructured data in the enterprise.
Enterprises are approaching the problem of how to protect and manage unstructured data in three categories of initiatives:
– Content Monitoring and Filtering Solutions
eg., email, web, database activity monitoring
– Encryption Solutions
eg., file/folder, full-disk, USB drive, email encryption and secure file transfer
– Data Management Solutions
eg., ECM, collaboration, data discovery, data classification, and data governance tools
The report notes that best-in-class enterprises are approaching the unstructured security problem head-on and are measuring their success using metrics. The metrics often involve quantifying the number of observed security-related incidents such as data loss, the number of non-compliance incidents (uncovered via system audits), and the number of policy violations resulting from human error.
Aberdeen estimates that on average the cost for a single data loss incident is $640,000. Clearly adoption of an approach to minimize those sorts of incidents can save a lot of money.
The Aberdeen report suggests the adoption of a framework around managing and protecting unstructured data. The framework that they have created is called PACE. The framework has a well-defined set of actions that should be followed to ensure good protection of unstructured data. The steps include:
– Identify unstructured data and its sources
– Establish clear policies around unstructured data
– End-user education around policies and practices
– Enforcement of policies
