Big data analytics is a powerful tool that enables businesses to get the most out of their data and make better-informed decisions.
However, many smaller businesses are hesitant to use this technology because of the security challenges it poses.
The consequences of big data security breaches can be much more devastating than other types of breaches, because they can affect significantly larger groups of people.
Such breaches can result in financial losses, reputational losses and even lawsuits. If you are planning to implement big data analytics, you have to make sure that you have effective security measures in place.
Here is a look at some big data security obstacles and measures you can take to overcome them:
Privacy
Privacy concerns are one of the biggest security challenges associated with big data.
When you are producing information, you have to make sure that you have the right balance between data utility and security.
Before you store the data, it should be anonymized sufficiently so that unique identifiers to users will be removed entirely and privacy concerns will be addressed.
Nonetheless, this does not guarantee complete data anonymity, and therefore, it can in itself pose a security concern.
The best thing to do is to remove all sensitive information from the records obtained.
Encryption
If you are using Cloud services, you will not be able to send data encrypted if the Cloud has to perform operations over it. One way to sidestep this problem is to implement Fully Homomorphic Encryption.
This type of encryption enables data in the Cloud to carry out operations over the encrypted data in order to create new data. After the data is decrypted, you will get the same results as when the operations were performed over plain text.
Effective encryption is one of the best solutions to big data security concerns for small business owners..
Access Control Mechanisms
Usually, operating systems or applications provide access control to restrict information access, but all the information will be exposed if the system or application is breached.
Instead of using the normal means of protecting data, a more effective method is to implement encryption that will only allow decryption that is authorized by your access control policy.
Software
Some of the more commonly used big data software solutions, such as Hadoop, do not come with default user authentication, making the data accessible to unauthorized people. To overcome this problem, you need to implement stronger authentication and access control policies.
As mentioned in an article entitled “Don’t Let Security Concerns Impact Use of Big Data“, efforts are constantly being made to improve the security capabilities of big data solutions. As such, big data will be increasingly secure in the future.
Big data technology was not developed with security in mind.
As data is being generated at an exponential rate, there is a pressing need for businesses to keep their information secure.
If your small business is using big data analytics, you can protect your data more effectively by taking the above-mentioned measures.
About the Author: John McMalcolm is a freelance writer who writes on a wide range of subjects, from social media marketing to running a small business.