According to a recent study, a hacking attack occurs every 39 seconds.
This puts businesses in a vulnerable spot. One loose end and things could go south even before you know it.
When it comes to enterprise search, where the underlying principle is to make more information easily accessible, data security becomes quite the challenge. The bigger the index, the more are the chances of sensitive information getting leaked. Here are 8 things you should consider for your enterprise search security and keeping cyber attackers at bay.
1. Hosting The Search Index On-Premises
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach and infrastructure setups are largely dependent on what’s important to a particular business, a lot of organizations consider the on-premises environment the most secure option.
If you’re one of them, then you might want to host your search engine on-premises as well to ensure your data remains within your environment. A good enterprise search solution allows you to easily index on-premises or cloud solutions. It should also have a provision to host search index on-premises, placing you at the helm of data security.
2. Controlling Access Levels
Organizations find themselves in a pickle for granting access permissions to users because some solutions aren’t very adaptable. A good enterprise search solution offers a flexible model that allows you to define ‘who can access what.’ For instance, John, the manager, is allowed to view, edit, and export ‘analytics’ and ‘search tuning’ but David, a new recruit, is only allowed to view both.
Additionally, it should allow admins to control data access based on document classes or versions, as well as, by IP whitelisting. This way by limiting access to a particular set of users, the search engine protects your data.
3. Encrypting Data in Transit & at Rest
Digital data can be broadly classified into two parts—data in transit; data at rest. As the names suggest, the former is when any form of enterprise data is traveling across networks or being processed and the latter is when it’s stored on a device or backup.
A reliable engine protects both these data forms using encryption. AES has become the industry standard with AES-256 being the most secure way to protect data. As an additional layer of security, the search solution should use multifactor authentication to ensure no unauthorized person accesses the information.
4. Using Single-Tenant Solutions
Business leaders hold single-tenant solutions in high regard. With a multi-tenant solution, you’re always in the danger of data bleed and threats arising out of vulnerabilities affecting other organizations.
Hence, you might want to consider a single-tenant search solution that guarantees the security of the content while maintaining indices and prevents any accidental information leakage. Another advantage of having dedicated search instances is that they store all the information in one place, making migration and export easier.
5. Providing Secured Access Authentication
In the corporate world, sharing passwords or releasing any kind of personal information is a cardinal sin, and rightly so. Having said that, your employees still need to access and share information residing on disparate data sources, applications, and APIs on various platforms.
This is when OAuth, an open-standard authorization framework, comes into the picture. Advanced, secure search solutions provide industry-standard OAuth 2.0 for authenticating access to different content source platforms. Users can share information with ease without multiple logins, all the while ensuring their credentials aren’t compromised.
6. Having An Incident Management Mechanism In Place
Attackers are always on the hunt for data gold mines, and you having no detection system in place only makes their job easier. That’s why a proactive search solution employs some form of intrusion detection and alert mechanism.
Now, it’s a given that it will keep tabs on your company’s search instance, informing you of any errors and malfunctions. But, it should also monitor the current health of content and search API to identify and report any security incidents.
7. Tying Loose Ends With VAPT Auditing
In the realm of data protection, it’s indispensable for organizations to identify weak links and decipher ways to address them. VAPT, short for Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration testing, helps determine and address possible cybersecurity risks in an infrastructure.
Therefore, you should go for a search provider that vigorously audits the product, both internally and externally, to ensure the integrity of your data.
8. Having Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plan
Prevention is better than cure. But if you do get infected, you will need a cure. The same goes for your business. That’s why companies have disaster recovery programs as part of their business continuity plan and your search solution should be no exception.
Modern enterprise search platforms are well aware of this and good ones maintain backups across multiple systems to help protect against accidental destruction or loss. Just having the recovery plan in place is not enough, the search provider should regularly test it successfully and efficiently.
Apart from all the above security considerations, an enterprise search solution should be compliant with legal and regulatory requirements. Some of the highest standards for business process control, data security, and privacy emphasize being compliant with ISO 27001:2013, HIPAA, PIMS, SSAE 18, etc.
Need help with deciding on the right search engine for your enterprise? Here’s a guide for you!
Zeroing in on the right search solution for your enterprise can be a daunting task. Here’s a comprehensive guide that will make it a breeze to evaluate solution capabilities & save you a lot of time.
