Data Classification 101

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The worlds of data security and privacy are converging. Efficiently implementing controls on sensitive data requires an end-to-end controlled data environment. The foundation of such an environment? Data classification.

Data Classification: A Brief Overview

Data classification is the process of identifying the types, sensitivity levels, and criticality of an organization’s data. This allows you to quickly understand your data ecosystem, manage risk, pinpoint data security needs, and achieve compliance. It is a fundamental aspect of modern data governance and lays the groundwork for securing data at scale.

Classifying data for fine-grained access control may seem straightforward, but in today’s complex ecosystems it can prove to be quite challenging. Maintaining visibility into what data you possess and how it’s protected, across all users, geographies, and platforms, requires a comprehensive approach.

This white paper helps remove the guesswork. In it, you’ll learn:

  • The fundamentals of data classification and why it’s more important now than ever before
  • How to identify data classes and class properties, map tags, and build policy tables
  • 10 recommendations for streamlining the data classification process and satisfying security and privacy requirements