Across the technological and marketing landscapes, personal data remains the most valuable asset of any user—that is what makes managing this data so important. There are growing concerns for users and organizations alike for managing and protecting dark (personal) data. Because dark data makes up over half of the data in existence and can contain sensitive and critical information, it is important to guard against dark data hacks.
What exactly is dark data? Despite its spooky-sounding name, dark data is essential to the tech world. CEO of MountainTop Data, Sky Cassidy, compared dark data to “all the photos on your devices.” While most of your photos will never be viewed again, they are always there, waiting for someone to come access them. Similarly, dark data is all the information you produce during your daily computer usage that you neither utilize nor delete. This can include surveillance footage, email correspondence, web logs and more. And as you might have guessed, users accrue a large amount of dark data.
Unsurprisingly, having a massive amount of mystery data can be a security risk. Users who are aware of dark data often wonder: How can I protect what I do not know is there? The key to managing dark data is choosing not to ignore information that could be sensitive. This is why it is crucial to organize all data—even dark data—such that risks and liabilities are able to be minimized and mitigated. This is also important for the organization you work for, especially when it comes to legal and financial safety. While analytics have often been siloed from governance teams, dark data necessitates that the two work together closely. Otherwise, privacy laws could be a real risk for your organization.
