Securing the Master Data

Securing the Master Data

Information security is a business imperative. Securing the customer data is cited as a top priority by the organizations today and it is getting the largest share of enterprise information management which consists of master data.

There are several master data management products available in market. These products help customer consolidate and manage their master information in one single place. Once set up, the MDM hub contains a wealth of information about an organization’s customers, accounts, and products, all in a convenient, integrated place leading to various forms of information security attacks. As a repository maintaining an authoritative system of record for the enterprise, MDM hub would require extra levels of protection for the information it manages.

When we deploy an MDM system for an enterprise, we hope to wrap multiple security layers around it to protect the data from un-authorized access. Some of the master data is confidential; not only do you not want to lose it, you don’t want others to even view it without authorization. The users and applications which are interested in master data should be able to access this data based on their roles and responsibilities.

To achieve this objective, here are some of the key questions which should be answered before implementing MDM solution.

Who should be able to run transactions?

MDM system should be able to authenticate every incoming request. These transactions may be getting invoked either from a user or from a system which is interested in master record.

Who can see what?

System should allow plugging in data visibility rules. This is to ensure only certain portion of the data is visible to certain users.

Who can modify what?

There should be opportunities to plug in data entitlement rules which define which user/system is eligible to modify which portion of the data as I discussed in my earlier blog Key Master Data Management Functionalities

What was modified, When it was modified?

A comprehensive audit log facility should be provided by the system to capture the time and user details of the transactions performed in the hub. This feature should perform the task of capturing relevant information with acceptable performance overhead.

Along with above features, the product should have a flexible framework which allows it to be configured with existing security provider implementation of the organization. (Ex: IBM Tivoli Directory Server, Netscape Directory Server etc)

Enterprises must present a tight security around master data that meets very stringent data quality levels, especially in light of recent compliance regulations and demands. Increasing enforcement of data privacy regulations make it mandatory to safeguard master data more than ever before. Above mentioned security requirements for MDM system not only help enterprise meet these regulations, but also help in retaining their valuable customers.

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MDM – A GEEK'S POINT OF VIEW