|  Material Challenge in a Digital World  |

The Internet of Things – IoT as it is widely known – is changing the way we live and work. There are literally billions of connected devices transmitting trillions of data points over both wireless internet and cellular networks. This shift is redefining what we know of the corporate network. More than ever, the idea of a perimeter is irrelevant and the focus on humans only captures a fraction of data consuming entities.

For all the advances in connected devices, and all the efficiencies the technology brings, there remains little in the way of data security and transparency. What good is all that data if it cannot be trusted? How valuable are those efficiencies if they create compliance or litigation failures for your organization? The adoption of any new technology often brings ancillary issues that require attention, in the case of transformative shifts in technology, those ancillary issues can be quite impactful and often not initially apparent.

There are three key factors in creating a trustworthy data path in the IoT world. The first is the device itself. Whether it is autonomous or operated by a human user, having a secure, calibrated device is essential to knowing the data it is producing is accurate. The second is to ensure the integrity of that data. Data integrity refers to the idea of ensuring the data as it is consumed is the same as the data as it was produced. This may not seem like a material issue. However, a majority of individuals lack an understanding of just how many ways exist to have data altered or corrupted. And, with the increased reliance on data in virtually every aspect of business, the process of ensuring the integrity of that data is critical. Lastly, having a true chain of custody (or chain of evidence) is vital to proving the veracity of the data when it is required. To be an effective chain of custody, the platform must create an immutable, auditable, and alertable record of every meaningful event on the data. Native log files, susceptible to alteration and corruption, do not adequately satisfy this need.

Organizations often look at data integrity and transparency as a secondary issue, sometimes satisfied by components of the primary platforms, hastily compiled only after an issue arises. The reasons this mindset is a recipe for disaster are too numerous to discuss here but can simply be analogized by asking yourself if you would allow your business to operate without the proper insurance policies in place. Comparing that to the business impact of bad data and one can easily understand that services such as data integrity and chain of custody are, at a bare minimum, essential insurance policies for a data-driven organization, and when used properly can be highly effective cost saving tools.

In our next post we will discuss our innovative way of answering this need for data integrity and a chain of custody in our connected world.

Originally Posted On: July 8, 2021