Protecting your Data

To start with, here are a few questions you should answer before you take any measures to protect your data:

• Is the classification of the data used by the solution clearly established?
• Does the solution process any personally identifiable information (PII)?
• Does part or all of the solution have to comply with a specific regulation (such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))? If so, which one(s)?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions but is only given to illustrate a few examples of some of the questions that should guide you to clearly understand your data security and compliance requirements. Do not rush into solutions, and start looking at what your options are until you have the answers.

Data Classification

This is the first step in protecting your data. You need to figure out the...