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Mysterious Threats of ‘Dark Data’ in Organizations

 

Data security is becoming costlier for organizations worldwide and the threats of cyber attacks added pressure on organizations from customers to protect their sensitive information. As a result, several organizations have already invested in new processes to safeguard their ‘data.’ 

However, we should not miss anything related to a dark part of databases that is lingering beneath the surface that might come back to haunt organizations. 

Along with structured data, a huge amount of unstructured data, known as dark data, also occupies the storage of every organization often as a result of a user’s daily digital interactions. This could include data of previous employees, customer information, financial transaction, confidential emails, messages and video call transcripts, and other sensitive information. 

Companies store a vast amount of unstructured or semi-structured data in log files or data archives for future utilization. The mysterious nature of dark data makes it hard to protect, and also creates a sense of insecurity what if threat actors get access to this data? 

Because of the availability of online services, data is being produced at a very rapid pace; it becomes very difficult for organizations to quantify their dark data. As per a recent survey, more than half of an organization’s data is unavailable for analysis. 

Nevertheless, shocking that unstructured data is rising at a rate of 55-65% per annum (1.7 MB of data is created for each of the 7.3 billion people every minute of a day). This means by 2025 organizations will be having more than 163 trillion gigabytes of data worldwide, 80% of which will be unstructured data, and 90% of that will never be analyzed or used in regular business activities. 

Now the question is what organizations could possibly do to protect the data? The first and most important step organizations should take is processing and discovering what data is sensitive and exposed. To accomplish this, security teams should be aware of where dark data resides, and who has access to it. 

Furthermore, organizations should seek independent consultants from a data expert who can review a data environment and conduct in-depth reviews of unstructured data. Once an organization reviewed its dark data, it can then identify what data has business value and protect that data accordingly. However, it can not assure companies full protection from bad actors, and a record 35% of all consumers do not trust any industry to protect their data adequately.

Dark Data: A Crucial Concern for Security Experts

 

BigID recently released a research paper that examines the current problems that businesses face in safeguarding their most critical information. A number of important findings emerged from the research:
  • Dark data is extremely concerning to 84 per cent of businesses. This is data that businesses aren't aware of, but which accounts for more than half of all data in existence and can be extremely sensitive or vital. 
  • Unstructured data is the most difficult to manage and safeguard for eight out of ten businesses. Unstructured data generally comprises a variety of sensitive information and is challenging to scan and identify due to its inherent complexity. 
  • More than 90% of businesses have trouble implementing security standards involving sensitive or important data. Data policy reach and enforcement are crucial for proper data asset management, remediation, and security. 
Data is an organization's most valuable asset, relying on it every day to make critical strategic and operational choices. Unfortunately, most of this data is highly sensitive or critical, and it can be exposed accidentally or maliciously in some instances. 

Dimitri Sirota, CEO of BigID stated, “Data is the fuel that drives a company forward. However, a lot of this data is personal and as it accumulates, so does cyber risk. You owe it to your customers, partners, and employees to keep this data safe, let alone to keep your business running. This report reinforces the fact that most continue to struggle to confidently protect their most valuable data.” 

Sensitive or essential data is being spread throughout the environment at unprecedented rates, thanks to the rapid rise of public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud models. As the scope of this type of data grows, so does the risk to the organisation. 

The research looks into the most significant security issues, the core causes of these problems, and practical ways to improve data security so that teams can protect their most valuable data assets.

Dark Data as a Subset of Big Data Proving to be of Importance



Any data which is disregarded and still remains stored without being indexed anywhere is known as Dark Data, it has a tendency to get lost as it disappears for the researchers first. It has been gathered by organizations unintentionally and therefore it is unstructured in nature, it is not accessible to the public and is neither employed for any decision making.

The primary reason for the generation of dark data is the accumulation of bulk of data and only a small part of it being selected for analysis. Data is generated very rapidly; with every user clicking on a link, data is being generated which is analyzed by the corporations to better their businesses. However, they require only a limited amount of data that is structured and then kept as a record in databases whereas the remaining unstructured data is lost amid other data which is not indexed.

Out of 7.5 sextillion gigabytes of data generated throughout the world on a daily basis, 6.75 Septillion megabytes is left unprocessed and goes as dark data which further remains stockpiled in data repositories. The lack of required tools for analysis is another reason for the generation of dark data.

Referenced from the statements given by Bob Picciano, Senior VP of Analytics at IBM, “Data that is difficult to work with creates a high barrier to entry. People typically forego trying to get any information out of it. About 90% of data generated by most sensors and other sources on the market never get utilized, and 60% of that data loses its true value within milliseconds.”

Dark data can be employed by an organization to gain valuable insights which are even more valuable than the insights they are gaining presently, dark data is a subset of big data in a way and can be used for multiple purposes such as to analyze the network security in an environment.