Understanding How Data Privacy, Data Governance, and Data Security Differ

March 2, 2022March 2, 2022 Michael Hoard

Ever wonder what’s the difference between data privacy, data governance and data security? All of these terms are frequently (and mistakenly) used interchangeably. They are indeed related, particularly when it comes to keeping data in the cloud protected, private and secure, but the definitions and mechanics of executing on each are all quite different. Join us on March 30, 2022 for another SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) “15 Minutes in the Cloud” session for an overview of what each of these terms means, how and where they intersect, and why each one demands adequate attention or you risk threatening the overall security of your data. Read More

The Confidential Computing Webcast Series

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021 Jim Fister

The need for improved data security and privacy seems to grow bigger every day. The continuous attacks and bad actors from hackers and rogue governments are increasing the demand from businesses and consumers alike to make stronger data protection a top priority. In the midst of this need, Confidential Computing has emerged as a solution for stronger data security and is gaining traction from a variety of start-ups and established companies. Read More

A Q&A on Protecting Data from New COVID Threats

February 17, 2021February 17, 2021 Alex McDonald

The SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative began 2021 discussing the topic that has been on everyone’s mind for the last year – COVID-19. But rather than talking about positive cases or vaccine availability, our experts, Eric Hibbard and Mounir Elmously, explored how COVID has increased cybersecurity concerns and impacted the way organizations must adapt their security practices in order to ensure data privacy and data protection. If you missed our live webcast “Data Privacy and Data Protection in the COIVD Era” it’s available on-demand. As expected, the session raised several questions on how to mitigate the risks from increased social engineering and ransomware attacks and how to limit increased vulnerabilities from the flood of remote workers. Here are answers to the session’s questions from our experts. Q: Do you have any recommendations for structuring a rapid response to an ongoing security threat? Read More

How COVID has Changed Data Privacy and Data Protection

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021 Alex McDonald

The COVID-19 Pandemic has amplified cybersecurity concerns particularly related to the cloud. Threat actors have recognized a unique opportunity to exploit pandemic-related vulnerabilities through social engineering attacks, business email compromise, work from home and other remote weak points. This results in increased risk and occurrence of ransomware attacks and data breaches that can disrupt or totally compromise organizations’ ability to conduct business. These security incidents can also subject victims to liability for violations of privacy and data breach notification laws. The SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) will be taking on this important topic with a live webcast on January 20, 2021, “Data Privacy and Data Protection in the COVID Era” where our SNIA experts will discuss: Read More

Ready for a Lesson on Security & Privacy Regulations?

July 10, 2020July 10, 2020 J Metz

Worldwide, regulations are being promulgated and aggressively enforced with the intention of protecting personal data. These regulatory actions are being taken to help mitigate exploitation of this data by cybercriminals and other opportunistic groups who have turned this into a profitable enterprise. Failure to meet these data protection requirements puts individuals at risk (e.g., identity theft, fraud, etc.), as well as subjecting organizations to significant harm (e.g., legal penalties). The SNIA Networking Storage Forum (NSF) is going to dive into this topic at our Security & Privacy Regulations webcast on July 28, 2020. We are fortunate to have experts, Eric Hibbard and Thomas Rivera, share their expertise in security standards, data protection and data privacy at this live event. This webcast will highlight common privacy principles and themes within key privacy regulations. In addition, the related cybersecurity implications will be explored. We’ll also probe a few of the recent regulations/laws to outline interesting challenges due to over and under-specification of data protection requirements (e.g., “reasonable” security). Attendees will have a better understanding of:

How privacy and security is characterized
Data retention and deletion requirements
Core data protection requirements of sample privacy regulations from around the globe
The role that security plays with key privacy regulations
Data breach implications and consequences

This webcast is part of our Storage Networking Security Webcast Series. I encourage you to watch the presentations we’ve done to date on:

And I hope you will register today and join us on July 28^th for what is sure to be an interesting look into the history, development and impact of these regulations.

Tracking Consumer Personal Data – A Major Headache for Data Administrators

February 25, 2020March 29, 2020 Thomas Rivera Leave a comment

First, it is now well understood that the CCPA* mandates strict requirements for companies to notify users about how their data will be used, along with giving customers the ability to “Opt Out” and request that their data be deleted, mirroring some of the primary aspects of the EU GDPR legislation known as the ‘right to be forgotten.’

I was reading a recent article from ThreatPost, entitled: “California’s Tough New Privacy Law and its Biggest Challenges,” and I realized that this article brought up something that I was thinking about even before the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was enacted at the beginning of this year (2020).

Security Watch

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019 Diane Marsili Leave a comment

Issues related to security have great importance in IT today. SNIA is participating in the creation of international standards with leading security-focused industry organizations. Here’s an update on recent activities from the SNIA Security Technical Work Group (TWG):

Transport Layer Security

The SNIA Security TWG is keeping a keen eye on the TLS 1.3 landscape, which is starting to get interesting since the IETF approved RFC 8446 last August. TLS 1.3 is significantly different from previous versions and it is expected to have an impact on the mandatory elements for the SNIA TLS Specification for Storage and ISO/IEC 20648:2016, which are based on TLS 1.2. While TLS 1.2 is still valid and will be for some time, it is important to keep in mind that ISO standards like ISO/IEC 20648:2016 have a 5-year shelf life. SNIA plans to work on an update later this year so that a new specification is in place in 2021.

Data Security is an Integral Part of any Business Endeavor

April 18, 2018April 19, 2018 Diane Marsili Leave a comment

In the wake of all the data breaches, privacy scandals, and cybercrime in the world these days, it can be worrisome if you’re responsible for keeping your company and customer data safe. Sure, there are standards to help you plan and implement policies and procedures around data security, like the ISO/IEC 27040:2015 document. It provides detailed technical guidance on how organizations can be consistent in their approach to plan, design, document and implement data storage security.

While the ISO/IEC 27040 standard is fairly thorough, there are some specific elements in the area of data protection — including data preservation, data authenticity, archival security and data disposition — that the ISO document doesn’t fully get into. The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Security Technical Working Group (TWG) has released a whitepaper that addresses these specific topics in data protection. One of a series of educational documents provided by the TWG, this one extends, builds on, and complements the ISO 27040 standard, while also suggesting best practices. Read More

Podcasts Bring the Sounds of SNIA’s Storage Developer Conference to Your Car, Boat, Train, or Plane!

May 26, 2016May 26, 2016 khauser Leave a comment

SNIA’s Storage Developer Conference (SDC) offers exactly what a developer of cloud, solid state, security, analytics, or big data applications is looking for – rich technical content delivered in a no-vendor bias manner by today’s leading technologists. The 2016 SDC agenda is being compiled, but now you sdc podcast pic can get a “sound bite” of what to expect by downloading SDC podcasts via iTunes, or visiting the SDC Podcast site at http://www.snia.org/podcasts to download the accompanying slides and/or listen to the MP3 version.

Each podcast has been selected by the SNIA Technical Council from the 2015 SDC event, and include topics like:

Preparing Applications for Persistent Memory from Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Managing the Next Generation Memory Subsystem from Intel Corporation
NVDIMM Cookbook – a Soup to Nuts Primer on Using NVDIMMs to Improve Your Storage Performance from AgigA Tech and Smart Modular Systems
Standardizing Storage Intelligence and the Performance and Endurance Enhancements It Provides from Samsung Corporation
Object Drives, a New Architectural Partitioning from Toshiba Corporation
Shingled Magnetic Recording- the Next Generation of Storage Technology from HGST, a Western Digital Company
SMB 3.1.1 Update from Microsoft

Eight podcasts are now available, with new ones added each week all the way up to SDC 2016 which begins September 19 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. Keep checking the SDC Podcast website, and remember that registration is now open for the 2016 event at http://www.snia.org/events/storage-developer/registration. The SDC conference agenda will be up soon at the home page of http://www.storagedeveloper.org.

Enjoy these great technical sessions, no matter where you may be!