In today’s world, documents aren’t written up by hand on stationery or with typewriters. Almost all people and businesses today use digital word processing systems to write, stylize, and publish documents. Even a small business is bound to create and receive hundreds, if not thousands, of digital documents a year.
Since your company data of all sensitivity levels now resides in the digital world, it is imperative that you embrace various security controls to protect it. This is becoming increasingly more important as businesses embrace decentralized hybrid infrastructures spanning multiple, sometimes unsecured, networks.
Watermarking is a data security technique that applies a transparent visual identifier over a piece of data, typically a document or image. The visual identifier is usually the logo of the organization that owns the data. It could also be a simple printing of the classification level the piece of data is filed under. However, the identifier could be a label such as the email address of the intended recipient or a timestamp. This would be a gigantic help in a forensic investigation after data leaks, where the original recipient needs to be identified.
The goals of watermarking data are to assert ownership, deter unauthorized use, and help with integrity and non-repudiation. Watermarking is a technique that has been around for a long time. Most of us are familiar with declassified government documents that still have the red “TOP SECRET” watermark overlayed on all of the pages.
Implementing a watermarking software solution should be heavily considered for all organizations that have a heavy flow of documents into and out of their infrastructure. Watermarking also helps satisfy certain requirements presented in various data privacy regulations. Determining whether data watermarking is appropriate for your environment can be assisted by performing a risk assessment on the current data inventory in your business. The more confidential and restricted data you possess, the higher the benefit watermarking will provide.