Learn more about data integrity and how to implement and maintain data integrity within your organization. In this article, we will discuss the following topics:
What is data security?
What is data integrity?
Data integrity is not data security
Data integrity is not data quality
Why are data security and data integrity important for every company?
Data integrity violations and the possible risks associated with it
What are examples of data integrity violations?
What is a definition of data?
What is a definition of a record?
Data security & data integrity solutions
What is data security?
Data security refers to the process of protecting data from unauthorized access and data corruption throughout its lifecycle. It includes the protection of data from both intentional and accidental alteration or loss over its entire life cycle across all applications and platforms.
Data security technologies and processes
There are many data security technologies and processes available to support your organization’s productivity while safeguarding the data.
Examples of data security controls include:
Access control.
Backups & recovery.
Date encryption.
Data masking.
Data resilience.
Data erasure.
Data security is also known as information security (IS) or computer security.
What is data integrity?
Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-cycle, and is a critical aspect to the design, implementation and usage of any system which stores, processes, or retrieves data.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. (C.S. Lewis).
Integrity (noun) [U] (HONESTY) ... The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change. (Cambridge dictionary).
Data integrity is not data security
Data security contains all measures taken to keep data from getting corrupted.
Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life cycle
Data integrity is not data quality
Data quality is all about creating trustworthy records from the moment raw data is entered, stored, transferred, and archived.
Why are data security and data integrity important for every company?
All organizations today deal with data. From international operating companies dealing in massive volumes of personal data to a small business-owner archiving the contact details of his customers on a piece of paper, data is integrated in organizations both large and small. When an organization collects any kind of personnel data, it instantly becomes known as a data processor.
Data security and data integrity are important for every organization. For instance:
Ensure compliance.
Safeguards all valuable information.
Reputation & brand protection.
Protection of intellectual capital.
Controlling critical infrastructures.
Data integrity violations and the possible risks associated with it
Prevention of data integrity violations is important for every company because the risks associated with it will be high when compared to prevention of data integrity.
Potential impact of poor data security and data integrity violations:
Revenue loss.
Damage to brand reputation and the image of the company.
Loose the creditability from stakeholders.
Loss of intellectual property.
Hidden costs.
Impact on organization goals.
What are examples of data integrity violations?
The data integrity violations come in many different forms.
Deletion or manipulation of data
Backdating, Fabricating data
Aborted sample analysis without justification
Invalidated OOS results without justification
Destruction or loss of data
Missing, altered or raw data not being recorded
Failure to document work contemporaneously
Uncontrolled documentation
Lack of audit trail, or no documented change control
Unauthorized access or changes to data
Not following company procedures
Sharing passwords
Copying existing data as new data
Disposing the original hard copies
Not reporting of failures and deviations
Releasing the failing product
Hiding/obscuring critical information
Mismatch between reported data and actual data
What is a definition of data?
Data is a representation of facts, concepts, or instructions in a manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by humans or by automatic means.
What is a definition of a record?
Records provides evidence of various actions taken to demonstrate compliance with instructions, in either electronic or paper format. Records include raw data.
Are you experiencing challenges related to data integrity? Rescop has experts in data security & data integrity practices who can offer the tools and training employees need to maintain data compliance. Contact us now!
