Data discovery and classification are two processes that work together to give organizations complete visibility into the data across their entire environment. Data discovery is the process of scanning an entire environment to find and identify where both structured and unstructured data resides across a business. Data classification is the process of identifying the types of data that a business has discovered, and then tagging that data to organize it. Data discovery and classification help businesses to identify, classify, and track sensitive data so that they have complete visibility into where their data lives, which helps companies to better protect their data and ensure they are meeting regulatory compliance requirements.
There are several tools available to help with data discovery and classification, including Microsofts Data Discovery & Classification, Thales CipherTrust Data Discovery and Classification, OneTrust Data Discovery & Classification, and Varonis. These tools provide capabilities for discovering, classifying, labeling, and reporting sensitive data in databases, as well as controlling access to and hardening the security of databases that contain highly sensitive data. They can help organizations get complete visibility into their sensitive data with efficient data discovery, classification, and risk analysis across heterogeneous data stores, including the cloud, big data, and traditional environments. They also enable complete data visibility, so security and privacy teams know what data they have, where it is, and who has access to it.
