Facing Cyber Risks, Data Protection Becomes Critical to Safeguard Organizations

The explosion of data theft and the associated financial impact have made data protection a major priority for businesses and organizations.

A Growing Increase in Data Breaches

Data breaches have become increasingly frequent in recent years, with significant consequences for companies and institutions. These incidents can lead to major financial damage, including revenue losses and data recovery costs, while also severely impacting brand reputation and customer trust. As cyber threats continue to grow, data protection has become a strategic concern for organizations of all sizes.

As highlighted by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) in its May 2022 report, data breaches increased by 79% between 2020 and 2021, reaching 5,037 reported cases. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average total cost of a data breach in 2022 was $4.35 million, with organizations taking an average of 207 days to identify a breach and an additional 70 days to contain it.

Which Data Should Be Protected?

Organizations must implement security measures to protect the data they collect, store, and process, while also remaining transparent about how that data is managed. When discussing data protection, the focus is often placed on personal data and the obligations imposed by GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). However, this perspective is too limited.

The data essential to an organization extends far beyond personal information related to customers, employees, or partners. Sensitive data may also include research projects, financial and accounting records, partnership agreements, manufacturing processes, and strategic business information.

Organizations therefore need a clear understanding of the existence, volume, and value of all their data assets in order to protect them effectively throughout their lifecycle. While structured data (stored in databases) is generally easier to identify and monitor, unstructured data (Office documents, PDFs, emails, etc.) remains far more complex to control and secure.

5 Key Steps to Protect Against Cyber Risks

To reduce cyber exposure, companies and organizations must implement robust and appropriate security measures.

1. Classify Your Data

The first step in protecting organizational data is to classify it according to sensitivity, importance, and intended use.

This is a critical process that enables organizations to define the appropriate level of protection and ensure data is used properly. Data classification addresses a simple but essential objective: identifying information assets and prioritizing them based on their value and associated regulatory requirements.

To classify data effectively, organizations should first define classification rules and levels (e.g., public, internal, confidential, secret). Documents and other data assets should then be labeled either upon creation or during acquisition.

Successful implementation must be supported by employee awareness and training initiatives. In addition, using tools that automatically display classification levels through watermarks or metadata can significantly facilitate operational deployment.

2. Protect Data in Transit

Organizations must also focus on protecting data in transit against interception and unauthorized disclosure.

The objective is twofold: determine which communication channels are suitable depending on the data classification level (instant messaging, email, secure platforms, etc.), and implement the required security measures such as encryption or Data Loss Prevention (DLP).

For example, a confidential document should only be transmitted through encrypted email, whereas public information could be shared via standard collaboration or videoconferencing tools without restrictions.

3. Protect Data Against Unauthorized Distribution

Stored data must be protected against unauthorized extraction and dissemination.

Organizations need to define secure storage locations and appropriate protection measures according to the sensitivity level of the data, while still ensuring accessibility for authorized users. Certain environments may even need to be prohibited for highly critical information.

A key question organizations should ask is: what is the maximum acceptable classification level for documents stored on a file server, SharePoint environment, or local laptop hard drive?

Conducting a comprehensive data inventory — manually or, preferably, through dedicated discovery tools — often reveals that highly sensitive information is being stored in completely inappropriate locations.

4. Protect Data Against Corruption, Theft, and Deletion

To ensure protection against accidental or malicious corruption, theft, or deletion, organizations must define two essential elements:

• Backup frequency, aligned with how often the data changes
• Retention periods, sufficient to guarantee restoration even in worst-case scenarios

Data protection strategies must also include granular access management based on the principle of least privilege and a strict need-to-know policy. The more sensitive the information, the more restricted access should be.

Access governance requires close coordination with HR teams to grant permissions when employees join the company and revoke them immediately when roles change or employees leave. Organizations should also implement regular access reviews and, where necessary, monitor user activities involving sensitive data (creation, deletion, copying, transfers, etc.).

5. Archive and Delete Obsolete Data

Finally, organizations must address the secure archiving and deletion of obsolete data.

Data should be archived or deleted safely when it is no longer required or no longer authorized for use. The objective is twofold: comply with legal obligations (GDPR, accounting and tax regulations, etc.) and reduce the volume of data that needs protection, thereby lowering security complexity and risk exposure.

It is important to remember that data theft is closely tied to cyber risks. Organizations must therefore remain vigilant, continuously strengthen their protection mechanisms, and stay informed about the latest cybercriminal tactics and attack methods.

The costs associated with a data breach can be substantial, and they increase proportionally with the time required to detect and neutralize threats. In this context, deploying a Zero Trust strategy, implementing XDR (eXtended Detection and Response), or adopting SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) solutions can significantly reduce detection and remediation times.

Christophe Levier, Director Go Cloud & Security at Micropole*, a Talan company

*Micropole joined the Talan Group in October 2024.