Big data is a helpful tool for businesses but it does present security risks that firms need to address in order to keep their information and insights secure.

Extremely large data sets that have become known as big data are proving to be invaluable tools for businesses worldwide, for both large and small enterprises. It can help businesses to reveal patterns and trends, especially those relating to human behaviour and interactions. As a result, big data can transform a business’ operations by providing information that can be used throughout the organisation, from finance departments to marketing campaigns.

While big data is proving useful for firms it also presents significant security risks. From limited levels of protection and evolving databases that are difficult to ensure security keeps up with to large amounts of data failing to be validated, there are many aspects those focussed on improving security need to consider. Despite the issues, the benefits of big data means that implementing a strong and effective security process is well worth it.

There are a lot of things businesses can do to improve the security of their big data, including taking these four steps.

1. Carefully pick your open source software – While open source technology wasn’t originally built with security in mind you can pick an option that will help you address the challenge of security risks. You can also invest in technologies that can add an extra layer of protection, giving you increased peace of mind.
2. Maintain and monitor your data – If your data is unorganised and messy it can make breaches harder to spot, as well as making it more difficult to utilise the information. Implementing a process where you maintain and monitor the information means you can keep a close eye on security issues and observe where changes need to be made.
3. Ensure hardware and software is up to date – Database used for storing big data are constantly evolving and ensuing hardware and software is regularly updated can reduce security risks too.
4. Manage end users – Your big data will likely be used by a number of people and managing these end users it vital. Educate them on keeping the information secure and implement controls, such as requiring strong passwords. You can also monitor how end users are utilising the information to flag up internal security issues and areas where they are failing to consider risks.