More than three levels add complexity that could be difficult to maintain, and fewer than three is too simplistic and could lead to insufficient privacy and protection. Three levels of classification are usually the right number for most organizations.
Organizations often establish data sensitivity levels to differentiate how to treat various types of classified data. One of the most popular features of the Varonis Data Security Platform is a dashboard that reveals the subset of sensitive data that is also exposed to every employee so you know exactly where to start with your risk mitigation efforts. Adding additional metadata streams, such as permissions and data usage activity can dramatically increase your ability to use your classification results to achieve key objectives. It’s important to note that classifying data-while a foundational first step-is not typically enough to take meaningful action to achieve many of the above use cases.
Matched patterns: California Driver’s License (CCPA), American Express (PCI-DSS).In many cases, classification results will list the object name and the policy or pattern that was matched without storing an index of the object’s content: While both require looking at content to decide whether it is relevant to a keyword or a concept, classification doesn’t necessarily produce a searchable index.
To comply with data privacy regulations, organizations typically spin up classification projects to discover any personally identifiable information (PII) on your data stores so you can prove to auditors that it is properly governed.ĭata classification is not the same as data indexing, although there are some parallels between the two. For example, you may have a requirement to find all references to “Szechuan Sauce” on your network, locate all mentions of “glyphosate” for legal discovery, or tag all HIPAA related files on your network so they can be auto-encrypted.
Comprehensive data classification is necessary (but not enough) to comply with modern data privacy regulations.ĭata classification software allows organizations to identify information that is pertinent to an organization’s interests. It can tell you where you are storing your most important data or what kinds of sensitive data your users create most often. Featured Webinar DatAlert Master Class On Demand Watch Nowĭata classification is the process of analyzing structured or unstructured data and organizing it into categories based on file type, contents, and other metadata.ĭata classification helps organizations answer important questions about their data that inform how they mitigate risk and manage data governance policies.Get a Personalized Varonis Demo (In-Person or Online) Schedule Now.Data Classification Engine Sensitive Data Discovery.Data Security Platform Product Suite Overview.See How you Rank Data Risk Assessment Non-intrusive, hassle-free.