Securing Unstructured Data Post-Merger: A CISO’s Guide

Integrating unstructured data after a merger is no small task. The right tools and approach can help you secure your organization’s data, ensure compliance, and prepare for a Zero Trust future.

Unstructured Data Integration: Where to Begin?

Merging two companies brings together vast amounts of unstructured data—like emails, documents, and multimedia files—often residing in different systems with inconsistent classification standards and varying security protocols. This fragmented data landscape creates significant risks, including security vulnerabilities and regulatory non-compliance, if not managed properly.

This complexity is further compounded by the interplay of three key teams—IT, Security, and Data—each with distinct priorities. This dynamic mirrors the Three-Body Problem in physics, where multiple forces pull in different directions, creating unpredictable outcomes:

• IT: Prioritizes infrastructure and performance.

• Security: Focuses on protection and compliance.

• Data: Drives insights and innovation.

Without alignment, these competing priorities can lead to unclear ownership, siloed efforts, and operational inefficiencies.

Unified data classification: Establish control from the start

To address this unpredictability, unstructured data must be classified and managed consistently from the outset. Without this foundation, organizations risk security breaches, regulatory failures, and missed opportunities for innovation.

How Data X-Ray Helps: Data X-Ray automates the discovery and classification of unstructured data across systems, ensuring all teams—IT, Security, and Data—have a shared understanding of the data landscape.

Meet regulatory demands

What’s at Stake: Managing unstructured data under regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA can feel overwhelming, especially post-merger. Compliance becomes even more challenging when teams operate in silos, leading to gaps in visibility and control.

Streamlining Compliance with Data X-Ray:

• Comprehensive Data Scanning: Data X-Ray scans data sources to locate unstructured data wherever it resides, including file shares, document repositories, email servers, and cloud storage like AWS S3, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive.

• Advanced Classification Techniques: Once data is identified, Data X-Ray uses algorithms to automatically categorize it based on content and context. For example, it flags PII (e.g., social security numbers, credit card details) and document types like CVs, invoices, and contracts.

• Audit-Ready Reporting: Data X-Ray generates detailed reports that can be easily exported for compliance audits, reducing manual workloads and minimizing non-compliance risks.

Laying the Foundation for a Zero Trust Future

Moving to a Zero Trust model requires careful coordination across IT, Security, and Data teams. Accurate classification and protection of unstructured data are non-negotiable for success.

How Data X-Ray Helps: Data X-Ray identifies and classifies data assets, prioritizes those containing sensitive information, and integrates seamlessly with DLP and catalog tools. This supports:

• IT teams: By maintaining infrastructure performance.

• Security teams: By enforcing access controls.

• Data teams: By driving actionable insights.

Moving Forward: Practical Steps for CISOs

Utilize Data X-Ray to address the Three-Body Problem and unite IT, Security, and Data teams around a shared foundation. With the right tools, your organization can achieve stability and unlock the value of its unstructured data.

Schedule a time to talk with us and see how Data X-Ray can bring clarity and control to your unstructured data.