What is the data classification?

Data classification is to analyze and categorize data assets of the organization in order to determine appropriate access, storage and maintain. It is a discipline in a wider data management area. In addition, it is part of the life cycle management (ILM). After understanding the various aspects of the data, policy can be introduced suitable for its security and maintaining. The classification project should be carried out by the owners of business processes and representatives of the legal and compliance with the regulations in cooperation with the Information Technology Department (IT). Although software tools are available for collection and analysis, the data classification process is primarily manual and can be time consumption.

Data are considered one of two types: structured or unstructured. Structured data are usually found in databases. It is often information about organization such as employees, records of customers and products. Information usually cannot be accessed directly, but must be accessible via application programming ROzhraní (API). Unstructured data is found in electronic or paper documents, e -mails or other types of free form content that may include audio and video files.

Classification of data can benefit the organization of several ways. Evidence of the existence of politics and compliance with policy could be required to comply with government regulations regarding the management of financial or sensitive data. Tax law requirements are one examples of these regulations. Data classification may be beneficial for organization in the case of a legal dispute, as the relevant classic data, together with the ILM implemented policy, ensures that data required by the lawsuit is available and foreign data are not available. The organization can be protected from the behavior of dissatisfied employees or employees' errors by proper classification and restriction of access to proprietary, highly intimate and top secretm to the data.

Some other benefits of data classification include a potential reduction in backup and storage costs, as the data will not be maintained longer than needed. Data storage media should also be associated with availability requirements. In other words, the data needed must be immediately on a storage device that allows you to access immediately, such as a network server. Data that is not needed immediately may be stored on devices that do not provide instant access such as digital tape.

In addition to meeting the requirements for legal and compliance with the requirements, understanding of data can bring other important benefits. Organizations that analyzed and classified its data could be able to benefit more effectively for decision -making or marketing purposes. This more efficient use of data can lead to improvement in profitability.