What do we mean when we say an organization must balance the information security and access to data?

Explanation:

We wake up every day to news that mid-sized companies or huge cooperates have been hacked. Data breaches are everywhere. Companies are taking steps to try and secure their data. In the process of taking important initiatives and making their data so secure, they somehow forget to strike the balance between information security and their employees. What does this mean? It means that companies are securing their systems so much so that the data becomes less accessible.

This can pose as an advantage and a disadvantage to employees. If the information being secured is valuable to the company, it will need more advanced procedures to protect it and thus, it will be less accessible. On the other hand, if the value of the data is not high, companies should not spend tones of money trying to protect it. In case there is a hack and there is data exfiltration, but the data that’s been breached is not that valuable, then who really cares?

Companies should learn to strike a balance between security and data access. They should avoid leaning 100% towards information security. Leaning more towards security will introduce inconveniences and as a result, your clients or employees will find it hard to use your system. It is okay to protect system that you think are important to the company but also learn to balance between these security controls and ease of access to your users.