Systematic classification of data helps organizations manipulate, track and analyze individual pieces of data. Data professionals typically have a specific goal when categorizing data. The goal affects the approach they take and the classification levels they use.
Some common business objectives for these projects include the following:
- Confidentiality. A classification system safeguards highly sensitive data, such as customers’ personally identifiable information (PII), including credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other vulnerable data types. Establishing a classification system helps an organization focus on confidentiality and security policy requirements, such as user permissions and encryption.
- Data integrity. A system that focuses on data integrity will require more storage, user permissions, and proper channels of access.
- Data availability. Addressing and ensuring information security and integrity makes it easier to know what data can be shared with specific users.
