Datensicherheitsprüfung

Datensicherheit, or data security, is the practice of protecting digital information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. It encompasses policies, processes, and technologies designed to safeguard data throughout its lifecycle, from creation to disposal. The core objectives are confidentiality, integrity, and availability, collectively known as the CIA triad.

Threats include cyberattacks, malware, phishing, insider threats, lost devices, and accidental data exposure. Organizations perform risk assessments to identify sensitive data and evaluate potential impacts, guiding the selection of controls.

Controls are organized into technical, administrative, and physical measures. Technical controls include encryption at rest and in transit, strong authentication, access controls, monitoring, patch management, and network segmentation. Administrative controls cover security policies, employee training, data classification, and incident response planning. Physical controls protect hardware and media from theft or damage.

Data security applies across the data lifecycle—creation, storage, transmission, processing, and disposal. Key practices include minimizing data collection, applying least privilege, regularly backing up data, and using secure erasure for decommissioned systems.

Regulatory and standards frameworks support practice, such as GDPR in the European Union, HIPAA in healthcare, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST guidelines, and SOC 2. Compliance often complements risk-based approaches rather than replacing them.

Security is not absolute; the goal is to reduce risk to an acceptable level through ongoing assessment, testing, and updates as threats evolve.