Data Security

Data is the New Oil... But With That Comes Great Responsibility

Utopia Marketing | April 16, 2018 | 2 min read

Last week, SAP Innovation Evangelist Timo Elliott, published a cheeky cartoon which sums up how many data-minded people are feeling in light of news around security, breaches and general data misconduct like that of Facebook & Cambridge Analytica earlier this month. 

Data Is the New Oil via @timoelliott

Source: https://timoelliott.com/blog/2018/03/data-is-the-new-oil-yes-toxic-if-mishandled.html

If you've seen any of Utopia's executives speak at an event or on a webinar, chances are you've heard us say "Data is the New Oil". We use that phrase because we see the rapid explosion of data, the mining for it and the great opportunity that hides within it for our customer organizations. It has become its own currency - a valuable asset, but also one that has to be controlled, regulated and cared for with caution. 

As a company which takes data really seriously, even when it's not your personal information at stake, we understand the importance of protecting your valuable data assets. Those assets are digital representations of things that keep your organization operational, compliant, customer-serving, growing and you cannot afford a "data oil leak".

According to the Ponemon Institute, an independent research firm who conducted a study on the cost of a data breach, only 25% of companies monitor access & activity of sensitive data. Yikes - As a consumer, you have to hope that companies are protecting the valuable, sensitive data they've been given. 

It feels all too common now to read about the next big data hack or privacy breach - especially with the rise in digital platforms. TechWorld recently published a punch list of the Most Infamous Data Breaches of our time. A list we're all pretty familiar with - and that is already outdated from just one month ago. 

Lately, we have been fielding a lot of questions around things like GDPR, data management and protection. Here is excerpt from a recent article we published around the topic as it relates to the software technology we develop and sell with SAP:

For personal data processed in the SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) solution, you can use SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) to control the blocking and deletion of personal data. But because Utopia’s software solutions for SAP MDG leverage the standard SAP framework, which may process customer or vendor data, we also needed to ensure that the underlying standard features for data protections applies to our products. This implies that the sensitive data used in MDG Change Requests, a core functionality in our SAP MDG extensions, can only be accessed by users with required authorization and personal data accessibility is controlled based on the auditor/non- auditor roles to provide better data protection. You can also configure MDG classes to scan through the open Change Requests for the usage of Customer or Vendor while running the report for blocking customer/vendor master data. This ensures only the right people are access to the sensitive data in your system - regardless of what type of data that is.

As organizations digitally transform into data-enabled enterprises, the foundation for all data initiatives has to be the ongoing management, governance and reliability of those assets. Critical data has to be nurtured, and protected. 

We take your data seriously, because your valuable assets are worth it. If you have questions around how you can ensure your master data is taken care of, maintained and governed for the long-term, we're here to help

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