7 Key Tools That Can Help You Secure Data Lakes

Cloud data lakes have been gaining a lot of popularity among businesses as they are moving to the cloud for AI/ML and analytics. Now, enterprises prefer cloud data lakes over the conventional data warehouses approach. A prime issue with this traditional approach was that the data needs precise structuring before the final storage and this can take a lot of time.

Therefore, a new-age technology called data lakes has been introduced to fix the problem. It brings together in a unified analytical environment several components, such as multiple data processing engines, such as SQL, Spark, etc, and cloud object storage. It also includes modern analytical tools, such as data engineering and ML.

This enables all types and sizes of businesses to quickly ingest data and operate self-service analytics. With the use of this, you will get flexibility, scaling, and other great advantages. However, this could also bring new security threats that need to be resolved.

Here are 7 key tools or can say practices that will help you enhance the security of data lakes.

1. NPS or Network Perimeter Security

Believe it or not! It is easy for attackers or hackers to search for potential vulnerabilities in data lake platforms. This becomes even more vulnerable because businesses give access to their employees to use stored data from data lakes. Hackers usually look for loopholes in this stage.

It is good to secure the network perimeter to minimise vulnerability. It works as a virtual wall that let authorized users via the network and also blocks security threats. Developing a network perimeter can protect your data from internal as well as external malicious activities. This includes border routers, firewalls, network-integrated intrusion, and VPs to stop cyber attacks.

2. Checking Compliance and Incident Response

You can also use this technique or tool to boost the security of data lakes. It helps enterprises with initial threat detection and investigation. Connecting the security infrastructure of the data lake with compliance monitoring & incident response will assist you to identify and minimise hacking activities.

3. Applying Data Encryption

This is a pivotal security standard that includes encoding data to make sure that only authorized users can get into it. Companies can change credential information stored in data lakes with another code and send it over to other networks.

A decrypted user can access the same code and utilise it to convert it to its original form. With the use of this technique, businesses can protect credential data and securely transfer it between computers and servers.

4. Data Loss Prevention

It is a great method to prevent companies from unnecessary data breaches, destruction, exfiltration, etc. It protects illicit data transfer by users outside your company’s boundaries.

Believe it or not! Data Loss Prevention can enhance information security as it lets you identify, categorize, prioritize, filter, and report sensitive data stored in data lakes.

5. SFI or Security Function Isolation

It simply confines all security options from non-security ones with the help of an isolation boundary.

The purpose is to restrict the capabilities of the platform to their intended use. This defines the security function isolation roles to admin and platform management.

Security Function Isolation alleviates the risk of potential data breach and limits the entrance of inexperienced users.

6. Authorization

This is one of the most popular security enhancement tools that can protect your data from breaching. It is a login step that describes what actions you can carry out in your stored data.

Authorization minimises the accessibility of unauthorized users from stealing the information stored in the data lake.

7. Powerful Authentication Methods

It is important to limit the data access to only authorized users. You can do this by adding a secure authentication system to protect your data from hackers. This will also allow users to access the database quickly.

This method confirms the identity of potential users who are trying to get credential data.

• You can try using Single Sign-on which enables users to create a set of login details.

• Multi-function authentication includes an additional layer of security using a one-time access code.

Conclusion

You can keep these seven techniques in mind while storing your data in data lakes. Focus on enhancing security to prevent threats and malicious activities.