Q&
DR ALEKSANDAR VALJAREVIC, HEAD OF
SOLUTIONS ARCHITECTURE, HELP AG
MIDDLE EAST
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EDITOR’S
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s cloud and data analytics take centre
stage in IT discussions, networks
are expanding, and traditional
perimeters are being erased. In the world
of tomorrow, we will be become ever more
dependent on data and together with our
identities, this will become the only thing that
we could and would be able to control and
protect. Regulations such as the European
Union’s GDPR are clear indication that today,
consumers are becoming more conscious of
their data and how it is used and secured.
For these reasons, data protection and
the various elements it entails such as data
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compliance, data governance, access control
and authentication, data encryption, data
ownership, and data residency are becoming
increasingly important to businesses.
To be able to protect your organisation’s
data, it is most critical to have complete
visibility over it. This means having the
ability to understand how it is being
accessed and transmitted at every point in
the network. From a technical perspective,
achieving this means first identifying, and
evaluating all touch points. These could
include end point devices, email, web proxies
to applications, and the cloud.
With this clear understanding of what
assets need to be secured, it is then critical
to not only implement the necessary
security solutions, but to ensure they are
seamlessly integrated to ensure end-to-
We must acknowledge
that humans
still present the
weakest link in the
cybersecurity chain.
To be able to protect
your organisation’s
data, it is most critical
to have complete
visibility over it.
end visibility and security. The next step
is to ensure that the technical controls for
data classification, data leak prevention
(DLP), and data encryption- for data
that is at rest, in transit or that is being
processed- are in place.
Finally, we must acknowledge that
humans still present the weakest link in the
cybersecurity chain. According to the 2018
Cost of Data Breach study conducted by the
Ponemon Institute, 25% of data breaches
are triggered by human error, including one’s
failure to properly delete data from devices.
Recognising this, it is imperative
to address the human aspects of data
protection as ultimately, technology will not
add value unless it is supported by security
policies and processes that are well created,
and well enforced.