Data privacy is an increasing concern in modern enterprises, especially as more and more of our data is moved from paper to digital mediums. Many companies have turned towards leading ERP systems, such as SAP, to assist in organizing and protecting their personal information. But that is not where they should stop.
With how big of a concern data privacy is, organizations should never stop questioning their data privacy, even in SAP. Here are three questions you should consider:
Do you have the required tools and techniques?
SAP and other ERP systems are tools to help protect your sensitive data, but that’s not where you should stop. SAP offers multiple add-ons and methods to further protect your data, as well as other features. These tools can add an extra layer of protection to your data using a variety of techniques, or even go as far as to automate your controls to ensure compliance with export regulations.
Think of your ERP system as a toolbox with every additional piece of software as another tool to increase your data privacy. This metaphorical toolbox can then be used to solve additional problems related to data privacy such as compliance, secure collaboration, and audit automation.
Does my Data Protection apply both internally and externally?
Protecting your data from potential hackers and antagonistic forces is what most people think of when they visualize cybersecurity. But in reality, a large number of data breaches come from internal forces. According to Statista, around 18 million data breaches were seen by internet users globally in the first quarter of 2022.
Quality data privacy tools must be able to protect your company assets from internal threats, on top of external ones. Many companies already do this at some level, such as Role-Based Access Control, in which users must be assigned a certain role before they can access a file. Attribute-Based Access Control takes this a step further, by using a combination of attributes, such as location, time, and device, to dictate what actions can be taken with a file.
What does it take to have SAP data comply with data protection regulations?
As I mentioned, SAP has many tools that offer automated compliance solutions. They accomplish this by fully blocking some actions based on policies set by an administrator.
For example, if a US employee were trying to send a file internationally to a partner in Europe, they would be stopped by automated controls if the file were not compliant with ITAR. These policies do not only apply to the transfer of files. They can also dictate who can and cannot, view, access, and edit data. This practice is meant to prevent unauthorized employees from having shared access to data from other branches of an organization.
In conclusion, you should never stop working on your data privacy, as companies continue to innovate cybersecurity, more and more flaws in current systems will be exposed. You should always question, research, and improve on your current data privacy practices.