Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2016. Read them in this 8th Annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Matt Goulet, COO at Globalscape
2016: Putting the Class in Data Classification
It’s interesting being in a market segment that sits at the crossroad of cloud, on-premises, and hybrid managed file transfer (MFT) deployments. Being a part of information exchange cycle, we see a lot of the hype and the reality of what trends wash over the IT industry. As such, there are a number of things that we anticipate becoming more of a reality in 2016, such as an increased focus on data movement and regulation around that data.
Innovation and expectation move fast these days; being too conservative can mean getting behind quickly, which can impede long-term success. Globalscape just announced another quarter of growth, and we’ve seen a number of trends take hold on the enterprise over the past 19 years. We think our diverse portfolio is a strength for us, but because we play in all three deployment worlds, we don’t have to push an all-things-to-all-enterprises agenda. That means we can offer some 2016 predictions that are more than just far flung ideas.
First, we’ve seen a land-rush of data migrating to the cloud, whether for storage or use in SaaS applications. Cloud purists need read no further. Your biases have been confirmed. I’m not going out on a limb to foretell the continuation of a trend that’s been well underway for years. Anyone can predict the past.
However, the trend isn’t that the migration of data to the cloud will continue to gain momentum, rather as more and more companies (finally) get on board with the cloud, they’re going to be confronted with a predicament: what must I keep on premises, what do I move to a hybrid environment, and what can I shift to the cloud?
Those questions mean enterprises will, by necessity, join one of 2016’s cloud trends-data classification.
Globalscape recently conducted a survey, Navigating the New Data Transfer Landscape, to better understand why organizations were making decisions to keep data on premises, move to the cloud, or use some combination of the two. Although the survey was conducted within the specific context of data transfer, some interesting findings emerged that I believe can be broadly applied.
The first comes from the ranking of six factors influencing decision making (combining responses of critically important and very important):
- Confidence in meeting compliance mandates 82 percent
- Ability to integrate the solution 77 percent
- Reliability at scale 72 percent
- Ability to track file movement 66 percent
- Self-service features 65 percent
- Any time, any device access to data 63 percent
Second, but somewhat related to the first prediction, there will be a growing emphasis on data classification based on issues such as regulatory compliance, availability/reliability for mission critical applications and scalability. Data will, by necessity, have to be far more discriminating than much of the hype would have you believe. It’s a matter of determining what kind of data they have, what it’s used for, who needs access to it, how much control they are required to have over it and how much latency is tolerable, among other factors. Once that process has been completed, then you can start to put together ideas around how to secure the data based on its value, usage, and access points.
Not that data classification processes shouldn’t already be in place.
Third and finally, the attention that must be paid to classification relates to another significant compliance trend that we see unfolding. Along with what’s going on in Europe following the rejection of Safe Harbor, companies should also be paying close attention to the effects of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) win in its case against Wyndham Worldwide Corporation.
By ruling in favor of the FTC, which sued Wyndham under its regulatory authority for conducting unfair and deceptive business practices, the courts set a precedent that gives the FTC greater enforcement power and authority to punish companies that it feels are negligent in their responsibility to properly secure data. That means, despite what may happen with pending data privacy or cybersecurity legislation at the state or federal level, we are likely to start seeing more action from the FTC against companies that the Commission believes have not made sufficient investments in systems, policies, and processes for securing data.
Thanks to the decision in FTC vs. Wyndham, along with pending changes coming from the EU, ongoing awareness is a standard of cybersecurity preparation, compliance and response.
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About the Author
Matthew Goulet serves as Chief Operating Officer at Globalscape and has direct responsibility over the global sales and marketing, engineering, quality assurance, product management and strategy teams. Goulet is also responsible for the alignment and prioritization of technology alliances.
