Find definitions and learn about the general application of common industry terms as they are used on this website.
A comprehensive data security mechanism that determines who is permitted to access specific digital resources, such as data, applications, and systems
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a privacy law solidifies consumers’ rights to data privacy, and creates new obligations for businesses that handle personal data.
Cloud Data Loss Prevention
A set of solutions that ensure the protection of sensitive data within an organization’s cloud storage from being misused or leaked externally
Cloud Data Security
Cloud data security refers to the measures taken to protect data stored or processed in a cloud computing environment from unauthorized access, theft, or loss.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) empowers businesses to effectively govern and monitor access entitlements, bolstering cloud security and mitigating the risks of data breaches.
Cloud Security Posture Management
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) identifies and fixes potential risks in diverse cloud infrastructures. CSPM tools provide a unified view of the security posture of cloud assets and cloud services. A robust CSPM solution and a solid Data Security and Posture Management (DSPM) solution will uplevel any company’s security posture.
Data Detection and Response (DDR) describes a technology-enabled solution for dynamically protecting data stored in the cloud.
Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) is an emerging cybersecurity practice, and set of related technologies, used to protect sensitive data stored in cloud environments.
Data Access Governance
Data access governance refers to management and control of who has access to what data in an organization, and what they can do with it
A data breach is a security incident, in which an unauthorized actor gets access to sensitive or confidential information.
Data Centric Security
Data-centric security is an approach to data security that focuses on protecting the data itself – rather than the security of networks, servers, or applications that store the data.
Data classification is the process of categorizing and labeling data based on its level of importance and sensitivity. It is a critical step in data security.
Data compliance refers to the practice of adhering to legal and regulatory requirements, industry standards, and internal policies related to the collection, storage, processing, and sharing of data. It involves implementing measures and following guidelines to ensure data is handled securely and responsibly.
The process of identifying and exploring data within an organization, to better understand the data’s meaning and potential uses
Data encryption converts data into another form or code to prevent unauthorized access
Unauthorized transfer of data from a system or network, typically with malicious intent
Data Flow Diagram
A graphical representation of the “flow” of data through an information system, modeling its process aspects
Data governance is the set of practices that ensure an organization’s effective management of data.
A data inventory is a comprehensive list of all the data assets that an organization has and where they are located.
Centralized repositories that allow the storage of structured and unstructured data at any scale
A data leak refers to confidential or sensitive information being unintentionally exposed, either externally or internally, due to insufficient security measures.
The data lifecycle describes the stages involved in a data project – from generating the data records to interpreting the results.
Data Loss Prevention
DLP is a set of tools, processes, and policies that work together to prevent the unauthorized use, transfer, or theft of sensitive data. It is a crucial component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that helps safeguard against data breaches and cyberattacks.
A data owner is a stakeholder responsible for the classification, protection, use, and quality of a dataset.
Often referred to as information privacy, data privacy relates to the management of personal data
Data Privacy Compliance
Data privacy compliance refers to the adherence to laws, regulations, and guidelines that govern the protection and handling of personal data. It involves implementing measures and practices to ensure that individuals’ personal information is collected, stored, processed, and shared in a manner that respects their privacy rights and maintains the data’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Data processing describes the actions required to transform raw data into meaningful information, as well as interpreting the results to uncover patterns and draw meaningful conclusions.
Data Risk Assessment
Evaluating the potential risks associated with an organization’s data assets involves identifying types of data an organization collects, where it is stored, who has access to it, and how it is used.
Data security is a general term for measures used to protect the data an organization collects and stores.
Data Security Platform
A Data Security Platform offers more business & security benefits than other IT security platforms and closes gaps left by many data protection platforms.
Data sprawl refers to the growing volumes of data produced by organizations, and the difficulties this creates in effectively managing and monitoring this data.
A cornerstone of computing, data storage is preserving digital information in a medium for subsequent retrieval
In the context of cloud infrastructure, a data store is a repository or container for storing data in the cloud – such as a database or object storage.
A large, centralized repository of data stored, which is specifically designed to support business intelligence (BI) activities, primarily analytics, reporting, and data mining
Data at Rest
Data at rest refers to data that is stored in a persistent state – typically on a hard drive, a server, a database, or in blob storage.
Data in Motion
Data in motion refers to data that is actively being transmitted or transferred over a network or through some other communication channel.
Data in Use
Data in use refers to data that is actively stored in computer memory, such as RAM, CPU caches, or CPU registers.
Database security is the set of measures, policies, and practices employed to protect a database from unauthorized access, manipulation, or destruction
Database as a Service
Database-as-a-service (DBaaS) is a type of cloud computing service that enables users to work with a managed database without purchasing or configuring infrastructure.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is EU legislation with wide-reaching implications for data protection and security.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a US federal law that establishes standards for protecting electronic health information.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) refers to processes and systems used to manage and control access to resources within a cloud computing environment.
The approach and process used by organizations to manage and address security incidents or breaches
An insider threat describes cybersecurity risk associated with malicious behavior by people within an organization.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are a cutting-edge Natural language processing (NLP) development designed to understand and generate human language
A managed database is a database that is hosted and managed by a third-party provider, rather than by the organization using the database.
Multi-cloud is a type of software or data architecture, in which the same organization uses more than one 'cloud'.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory agency and laboratory, operating as part of the US Department of Commerce.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard, designed to reduce payment card fraud by obligating companies that process or store credit card information to secure their environments.
Protected health information (PHI) is an individually identifiable record created by a HIPAA 'covered entity' which relates to a person's health status, health care, or payments.
Personally identifiable information (PII) refers to data that can be used to identify a specific person.
Ransomware is a type of malware attack where an attacker threatens to leak, delete, or make a victim's files inaccessible by encrypting them – unless the victim agrees to pay a ransom.
SOC 2 is a compliance and privacy standard that specifies how organizations should manage customer data and related systems in order to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) are regulations that protect investors from fraudulent financial reporting by obligating companies to maintain strong accounting and finance controls.
Secrets are pieces of private information used to authenticate and authorize access to protected resources or sensitive information.
Self-managed databases are database systems in which the database or cloud vendor provides the physical database server, but the user is responsible for setup, configuration, and maintenance of the database.
Semi-structured data refers to data that is not stored in a tabular format, but still has some level of hierarchy and separation between fields within a data record.
One of the most critical challenges facing many organizations today is effectively protecting sensitive data. The cornerstone of modern business, sensitive data, when mishandled or left unprotected, can expose a company to enormous risks, including financial loss, legal action, and reputational damage.
Shadow data is data that is created, stored, or shared without being formally managed or governed by the relevant IT teams.
Shadow IT refers to situations where individuals in an organization use IT-related hardware, software, applications, or services without the knowledge or authorization of the IT teams responsible for these tools.
Structured data is data that conforms to a specific format or structure that follows a predetermined set of rules, which makes it easy to search, sort, and analyze.
Unmanaged Data Store
An unmanaged data store is a type of database that is not supported by a cloud provider.
Unstructured data is data that lacks a predetermined structure or format. Some examples are text documents, images, or audio files.