Member Article

Usability, practicality, accessibility and ownership are key to ensuring effective security, says BOHH Labs

Data security is a top priority for most companies today, with millions invested every year to keep an organisation’s information secure. However, just because a security system has had significant investment placed into it, doesn’t mean that it has been well-designed; it must also be strengthened by a philosophy of data security, according to Simon Bain, CEO of BOHH Labs.

Following the recent spate of cyber-attacks across the globe, and the report from GCHQ stating that there are roughly two major cyber-attacks a day worldwide, organisations are looking to review their current security measures to keep up-to-date with the latest threats. For Bain, these principles are determined and set by the individuals responsible for security, and they can differ between organisations, but typically, these should relate to usability, practicality, accessibility and ownership.

He explained: “The philosophy behind a business’ security approach should adhere to key principles, something that can be overlooked by certain organisations. And, it’s important to address internal and external threats by looking at everything through the lens of data security. Only once key security principles have been decided can a company improve its entire approach to data security.”

Ultimately, organisations should focus on protecting the data itself, allowing it to be safeguarded regardless of where it is being stored, accessed, or transacted. This means information can be accessed within on-premise databases, cloud platforms, IoT devices, mobile services and more. Having data that is secure is useless, unless it is also accessible to the data owner. This data includes usernames, passwords, address details – information that belongs to the individual.

As such this is where the intersection of the four key principles comes in to play.

Bain added: “We know that no one is 100 percent safe from cyber-attacks, but to get ahead in security, companies must identify how an unauthorised person with bad intentions is capable of not just extracting data, but also rendering encrypted information into readable and usable text. From here, companies can start to identify the best security solution.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by BOHH Labs .