Table of Contents

Data security will remain one of the biggest concerns for businesses this year. According to IBM, the average data breach in 2023 cost 4.45 million - and 82% of that involved data stored in the cloud. Damages from cybercrime, including the cost of data recovery, could total $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, causing more business owners to review their data security protocols. Which specific changes should you implement in the next 12 months? Here are the top seven data security developments you need to know about.

Here are the 5 key takeaways from the article:

  1. More business owners should review their data security protocols in the next 12 months as monetary damages from cybercrime skyrocket. 

  2. Some of the biggest data security changes in 2024 include adhering to data governance guidelines, data encryption, authentication, advanced phishing and AI-enhanced attacks.

  3. Business owners need to implement these changes to protect sensitive data from landing in the wrong hands. 

  4. Integrate.io is a no-code data pipeline platform that can help small business owners address data security challenges. 

  5. Integrate.io's security features include SSL/TLS encryption, SOC 2 compliance, and compliance with data governance guidelines. 

Introduction

Data security will remain one of the biggest concerns for businesses this year. According to IBM, the average data breach in 2023 cost 4.45 million - and 82% of that involved data stored in the cloud. Damages from cybercrime, including the cost of data recovery, could total $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, causing more business owners to review their data security protocols. But which specific changes should you implement in the next 12 months? Here are the top seven data security developments you need to know about. 

1. Real-Time Compliance

Businesses rely on analytics to uncover correlations between data sets and generate insights. Still, much of this data comes from isolated locations, requiring systems to extract and transfer data to one centralized destination. This process presents multiple security challenges. 

One of the biggest challenges is complying with data governance legislation like GDPR and CCPA. While many businesses already have compliance protocols in place, they can't adhere to data governance in real-time. Slower methods could prove costly, especially with ever-growing governance rules and hefty penalties for non-compliance.

In 2024, expect more businesses to invest in real-time compliance tools when executing data integration methods like Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL). Adhering to data governance legislation in real-time will reduce the risks associated with data storage and moving data to different locations. 

2. Data Categorization Alternatives

Categorizing big data as "public," "internal," and "confidential" proves insufficient for restricting data access and stopping data breaches. Data categorization might be effective for compliance and regulatory purposes, but other methods prove more efficient for overall data governance.

More companies will categorize data in 2024, and many of these will grant access to this data to employees who don't need it (see below). Data categorization alternatives such as authentication methods and data access controls are more effective weapons in the fight against data breaches and phishing attacks. For example, data access controls let your business restrict access to your most sensitive information to prevent a data breach or insider threat. You can delegate user privileges to high-level employees who need to view sensitive data and forbid everyone else from seeing it. Alternatively, grant access to data based on job roles. 

3. Job-Critical Data Access

Companies that allow employees full access to big data increase the chances of a data breach. Employees, therefore, should only access data critical to their job role. 

GetApp's 2023 Data Security Report says:

Restricting data access using the principle of least privilege is a bedrock of zero trust security and reduces the impact of a potential cyberattack. If everyone has access to everything, a hacker only needs to steal a single employee’s credentials.

Data security changes like managing account members who use ETL or other data integration methods could limit data breaches significantly. 

Implementing these changes as early as possible in 2023 is useful, especially when employees continue to work from home part- or full-time. GetApp also notes that work-from-home models, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, require additional security for company devices, networks, and emerging technologies.

4. Data Encryption 

One of the biggest data security changes in recent years is data encryption, which, among other things, lets businesses extract and load data from one location to another without exposing it to unauthorized persons. Expect data encryption uptake to increase further as organizations prepare for data compliance in 2024. 

Thus far, some businesses have resisted data encryption. But how much longer can they hold out? Sure, alternative big data security methods like multi-factor authentication and password expiration programs cost money and are difficult to implement. However, data encryption can be a simple and effective way to handle security challenges when dealing with big data. Moving forward, organizations should assess the risks of not utilizing data encryption when working with and sharing their company's sensitive data. 

5. Industry-Specific Data Security Changes

Big data security changes are important for all sectors. However, some industries are more vulnerable to cybercrime than others. According to WGU Texas, the most at-risk sectors are healthcare, government, finance, education, and energy/utilities.

All these sectors rely on big data for analytics, so businesses must strengthen existing big data security models. However, these changes should be industry specific. For example, financial companies should probably make a bigger investment in real-time compliance methodologies compared to, say, educational institutions. That's because they are likely to process more big data.

Small businesses are also at risk of cybercrime, according to WGU Texas. These organizations are vulnerable to phishing and malware requiring the need for specialist tools. While most small companies lack a large tech budget, investing in the right platforms can prevent an expensive data breach and save money in the long run. 

6. Authentication

One of the biggest big data security changes in 2024 will be the rise of authentication methods to verify employees who access raw data and analytics, a trend seen across all facets of data management. According to GetApp's report, two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) is critical for reducing many of the most common data security threats today, including phishing attacks.

GetApp says:

"Everyone knows by now that passwords alone are insufficient protection for any type of sensitive information, so companies have added additional layers of protection, such as a code sent to your phone or biometric inputs such as your fingerprint."

If you haven't invested in two-factor or multi-factor authentication yet, now is a good time to do it. You can ask employees to confirm their credentials on a secondary device like a smartphone after logging into a system via a desktop or laptop. This enhanced security method further protects your organization by asking users for a second form of identification. 

7. Wider Data Security Changes Across the Board

Many organizations worry about big data privacy issues such as protecting customer data, customer expectations, data privacy regulations, and the impact working from home has had on data security 

Organizations that implement data security changes can solve these challenges when dealing with big data security in 2024. For example, businesses with a work-from-home or hybrid model can invest in technologies that prevent the loss of sensitive information when employees are away from the office. 

How Integrate.io Solves Big Data Security Problems

Many cybersecurity risks happen during data integration when organizations move data from various locations to one centralized database for analytical purposes. Extraction, transformation, and loading processes, like other methods, can be challenging because all data poses a security risk and is vulnerable to cyber threats, no matter how granular it is. If organizations are not investing in big data security software from providers, then there is a real risk of data loss if your information doesn’t reach its intended endpoint. 

If your organization is serious about big data security changes for 2024 and wants to protect against data loss and other vulnerabilities, invest in data integration tools like Integrate.io that follow the latest security protocols and compliance requirements. Integrate.io maintains the highest security and data protection standards for data integration and data analytics with SSL/TLS encryption, SOC 2 compliance, physical security powered by Amazon Web Service (AWS), network security, system security, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliance.

With Integrate.io, you can also design, build, and execute ETL pipelines that move data from databases, social media platforms, SaaS tools, CRM systems, and other sources without any experience necessary. These features improve the efficiency of business intelligence handling and data management for decision-making while also allowing you to better protect yourself against cybercriminals. With the benefits and protection Integrate.io provides, you won't regret investing in this no-code cloud-based data pipeline platform.

It's not just ETL, either. Integrate.io optimizes ELT, Reverse ETL, Change Data Capture (CDC), data warehouse insights, and data observability, making it your go-to resource for data integration. Other benefits include world-class customer service, online support, and the ability to create your own custom connectors via a REST API when moving data between locations. 

Are you ready to discover more about the many benefits the Integrate.io platform can provide your company? Now you can move data to a supported location without worrying about data security. Schedule a demo now.