White Paper: The Age of Data

1. The Age of Data: Seize
the Opportunity and
Overcome the Risks
White Paper
Why you need a complete data control and protection solution
to unlock the full value of data

2. Introduction
The era of “Big Blue” mainframes taking up whole rooms inside computing facilities can seem like ancient history
now that we carry what is essentially a supercomputer in our pockets, but it was really only about sixty years ago.
We went from the birth of computing in the 1960s, to the age of personal computers in the 1980s, to the age
of the Internet in the 1990s, and the age of the Cloud in the 2010s. Now, it’s clear we’re in a new age—the Age
of Data. The amount of data created and collected has exploded over the last ten years, accelerated by digital
transformation’s move to the cloud, the rise in mobile devices, the growth of big data and artificial intelligence
as well as the Internet of Things.
As organizations produce and collect more data, they’re discovering more advantages to being on the leading edge
of data utilization – increased efficiencies, improved customer relations, and crucial competitive advantages. But
these don’t come without risk. While data can be extraordinarily valuable, the flipside is that losing it is becoming
ever more costly. The true winners of the Age of Data will find a way to seize the new opportunities in front of
them while overcoming the associated risks.
2 | WHITE PAPER: THE AGE OF DATA: SIEZE THE OPPORTUNITY AND OVERCOME THE RISKS
Data is fueling the next generation
of success and innovation across
organizations
We might still be in an early phase of the Age of Data:
In a Splunk survey of data-focused IT and business
managers, 60 percent say both the value and amount
of data collected by their organizations will continue
to increase—estimating the quantity will grow nearly
five times in the next five years. The financial services
industry is the leader with data expected to grow 5.7
times. The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated
there would be 44 ZB collected in 2020. According to
IDC it was actually 145% higher at 64.2 ZB, due to the
COVID-19 shift to home working and entertainment. By
2025, the WEF estimates that 463 exabytes of data will
be created each day globally, and IDC says the amount
will be more than twice the amount created since digital
data began to be stored.
Data is already having a massive impact: most
respondents of the Splunk survey also rate the data
they’re collecting as extremely or very valuable to their
organization’s overall success and innovation. In a recent
Snowflake survey with the Economist, 87% say that
data is the most important competitive differentiator in
the business landscape today, and 86% agree that the
winners in their industry will be those organizations that
can use data to create innovative products and services.
of companies say that data is the most
important competitive differentiator
in the business landscape today.
more likely to achieve
above-average
profitability.
more likely to out perform
competitors in customer
acquisition.
Data-driven competitive advantage:
ORGANIZATIONS THAT UTILIZE CUSTOMER ANALYTICS ARE...
87%
23x 19x

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3 | WHITE PAPER: THE AGE OF DATA: SIEZE THE OPPORTUNITY AND OVERCOME THE RISKS
This theory is supported by results. A McKinsey report
showed that serious users of customer analytics were
23 times more likely to outperform their competitors
in new-customer acquisition, and nine times more likely
to surpass them in customer loyalty. They were also 19
times more likely to achieve above-average profitability.
According to a Collibra report, 58% of data-driven
companies met or exceeded revenue goals compared to
only 32% of non-data-intelligent companies.
The importance of data is being realized across the
enterprise: CFOs use data to become more strategic,
CMOs gain insight into customers, and HR leaders utilize
data and AI to predict future workforce needs. Data’s
importance is also revealed in company leadership and
funding: the percentage of companies with a Chief Data
Officer grew from 12% in 2012 to 65% in 2021, and 91.9%
of firms report that the pace of investment in Big Data
and AI projects is accelerating.
Different industries are finding a variety of opportunities
to accelerate with data. According to the Snowflake
survey, 94% of technology sector respondents cited
data as the most important competitive differentiator
in the business landscape today. The healthcare sector
was most focused on developing or improving new
products or services, retailers were the most likely to
see a potential opportunity to increase customer/client
satisfaction, while financial services were most likely
to see expanding the customer base as the biggest
opportunity.
Increased data collection is also leading
to heightened privacy concerns and
consequences
With this rise in the creation, collection and utilization of
data has also come increased concerns about personal
data privacy. After it was revealed that Cambridge
Analytica acquired 87 million Facebook users’ PII illegally,
a 2018 Gallup poll showed that more people were
concerned with invasion of privacy and data gathering.
43% of Facebook users were “very concerned” compared
to 30% in 2011, and Google users responded similarly.
There are also worries that collection of personal data
is unavoidable. A 2019 Pew research report shows that
60% of US adults think it’s impossible to go through
the day without having data collected by companies or
the government. A majority was also troubled by the
way their data is being used by companies (79%) and
were not confident that companies will admit mistakes
and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise
personal information. 70% believe their data is less
secure than it was five years ago.
These increased privacy concerns are eliciting varying
responses from tech companies—some seem to be
pulling back while other are marching forward regardless
of potential negative reactions from consumers. Apple
appears to be on both sides of this: earlier this year
they rolled out an iOS update Called App Tracking
Transparency that asks users to give apps permission
to track their activity across other apps and the web.
About 80% of iOS 14.5 users have opted out so far. That
update garnered pushback from apps like Facebook
that need(ed) to track users in order to deliver targeted
ads as part of their business model. (Facebook is now
working on a way to deliver ads that doesn’t require
personal user data). On the other hand, even more
recently, Apple announced plans to scan users’ photos
for evidence of child sexual abuse materials, but pulled
back in response to the privacy backlash.
Governments are responding more forcefully to
increasing privacy concerns with the E.U., state of
California and, this year, Virginia and Colorado passing
regulations that protect consumer privacy. We expect
the U.S. federal government to adopt a nation-wide law

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within the next few years. With these regulations come
steep penalties for data leaks; for example, California’s
privacy act fines can range from $2,500 to $7,500 per
record.
At the same time, the collection and use of sensitive
data across the enterprise creates a tempting target
for criminals. Bad actors continue to find and exploit
weaknesses, many generated by the shift to remote
work in 2020 and the increase in cloud computing.
According to the 2021 Verizon Data Breach Report,
phishing increased by 11 percent, ransomware attacks by
6 percent, and 61 percent of breaches involved credential
data. 2020 also saw the cost of data breaches hit a
record high with an average $4.24 million per incident
according to IBM.
Inadequate data governance creates
extra risk to data and the organization
As regulations and risk to sensitive data have increased,
technology companies have rushed to fill the space
with what they claim are solutions to the problem of
“Data Governance.” However, many of these companies
are actually promoting a self-serving definition that
only includes data discovery and classification or a data
catalog. While knowing where your data is and which
data is considered “sensitive” are essential first steps to
the data governance process, they don’t do anything to
protect the data.
Other vendors go the next step into access control or
data masking, but this only works if everyone attempting
to access data has good intentions. These solutions
also often lack visibility into actual data usage and
consumption—administrators can’t see who is accessing
what data when and how much. This knowledge and
the accompanying audit trail are necessary to validate
policies are working correctly and in compliance with
regulations. And what about credentialed user access or
hackers intent on stealing the information? If they get to
the data, what’s stopping them from downloading the
entire database?
With these solutions, companies are left with half-
measures that don’t go nearly far enough or worse, offer
no protection at all. They must either live with the risk
or be forced to lock data down in order to protect it—
hindering their ability to realize data value.
of US adults are troubled by the way
their data is being used by companies.
cost per breach incident
in 2020.
potential fines per record
from California’s CCPA
privacy regulations.
Privacy concerns, threats
and regulations:
79%
$2500-$7500 $4.24M

5. A L T R . C O M
Who is responsible for controlling and protecting data to unleash its value?
When data is essential across an organization, the responsibility varies by function, but the goal is the same:
protect data effectively so that it can be used to its full potential.
• CHIEF DATA OFFICERS (CDOs) must aim for an offensive data strategy enabled by defensive data solutions.
This will enable open access policies so everyone can have access to the data they need, when they need it.
• DATA ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, DBAS should reduce manual tasks and offload access management by
implementing tools that utilize automated access controls so they can focus on getting more value from
the data.
• SECURITY PROFESSIONALS need to mature beyond “all or nothing” access controls by placing limits on how
much data users are allowed to consume. An integrated data control and protection platform can provide
automated responses to policy violations and block suspicious requests in real-time.
• PRIVACY/COMPLIANCE/GOVERNANCE TEAMS should focus on closing the gap between policy creation and
implementation with automated access controls. This helps ensure controls are implemented quickly, that
they’re working effectively and without manual error, further reducing risk.
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Complete data control and protection:
the only way to truly unleash the value
of data
The Age of Data is putting unprecedented pressure on
organizations. They must use massive amounts of data
across the enterprise in order to keep up with the pace
of innovation and stay ahead of competition, but using
that data also increases the risk of loss and the potential
costs of a breach. It seems like an impossible choice: use
data or protect it.
The answer is actually counterintuitive: organizations
must protect data in order to free it. This means they
need a comprehensive data governance solution that
includes data security. With a complete data control and
protection solution like ALTR’s, companies can find and
classify sensitive data; observe, control and document
data access; automatically limit data usage based on
governance policies; block access in real time when
unusual activity occurs; and tokenize data to remove it
from the grasp of thieves.
With data controls and protections in place, companies
can provide open access to data, confident that sensitive
data is available only to those who should have it and
safe from loss or leak. Only by protecting their data can
companies fully unlock its value and come out ahead in
the Age of Data.

6. Complete data control
and protection
ALTR simplifies and unifies data governance and security, allowing anyone the ability to
confidently store, share, analyze, and use their data. With ALTR, customers gain unparalleled
visibility into how sensitive data is used across their organization. This intelligence can be
used to create advanced policies to control data access. Through ALTR’s cloud platform,
customers can implement data governance and security in minutes instead of months.
Get started for free at get.altr.com/free