5 ways to take control of data in 2021

COVID-19 changed how economies, consumers, and the supply chain behave. All that change means that significant amounts of legacy data are no longer useful and, in many places, we are starting from ground zero. But for CIOs who are responsible for the infrastructures, platforms, and tools that manage and move data, essential data realities may not have changed, although their scope certainly has.

Due to the pivotal role technology is playing in transforming the working world amid the pandemic, CIOs are dealing with a tremendous amount of data movement, processing, storage, and security concerns. As CIOs look ahead to 2021, here are five tips for approaching their growing data responsibilities.     

Use AI to prevent data leaks & protect privacy

With more data processing and movement happening inside and on the edge of organizations, data leaks are an increasing risk and increasingly hard to identify. Some businesses are enlisting AI not only to scan for leaks but also to prevent them. The 2019 Gartner Security and Risk Survey showed that “over 40% of privacy compliance technology will rely on AI by 2023, up from 5% in 2019.”

Automated, AI-driven data leak prevention tools can proactively eliminate unwanted data leaks by tracking, limiting, and even blocking data access and sharing. In addition, AI-based data defenders can learn from prior and future malware attacks and data loss events. These lessons can be applied to new intrusions, helping identify risk, such as suspicious customer or employee behavior, and mitigating issues before any leaks can occur.