The Sanctity of Unstructured Data in the Energy Sector

In my thirty years working as an IT professional in the oil and gas industry, I know first-hand that every energy company has unstructured data in its file management systems.

Statistics actually suggest that up to 80% of a company’s data is unstructured – making it a perfect target for malware and ransomware attacks. A quick Google search tells us that 82% of CIOs say their organizations are vulnerable to cyberattacks, which begs the question – how prepared is your business to combat an attack?

 
Traditional file management solutions are no longer secure enough

Given the large volumes of data that energy companies handle today, trying to manage files on complex legacy storage, backup and archive systems is no longer a scalable, secure solution.
If the energy industry teaches IT professionals one thing, it’s the importance of respecting the sanctity of data. If your company’s data is lost, corrupted, or incomplete, workers can’t do their jobs, and the business will lose money.

It was around 10 years ago when I realized that the current IT solutions that were in place at most energy companies would not be sustainable, given the scale of data growth. This is what prompted me to specialize in data security and engage with Nasuni as an Energy Subject Matter Expert.

My main reason for joining the company was that I’d finally found a solution that respected the sanctity of data. I’d deployed Nasuni at my previous company and witnessed the benefits of its products and services first-hand.
Since joining Nasuni, I’ve grown attracted to the idea of helping other energy companies tap into the same capabilities. This is why I’ve published a guide called “A blueprint for the sanctity of unstructured data for the energy sector” for IT leaders who were in my shoes not too long ago.

 
A security blueprint for the energy sector

The guide explains what it means for IT leaders to be responsible for the sanctity of data, why traditional file infrastructure and backups are inadequate for energy companies today, and what actions can be taken to protect a company’s data.

To summarize, here are the five priorities that I believe all energy companies should keep in mind to protect their data and avoid becoming one of the eighty-two percent.

1. Be ready to support business growth initiatives
2. Implement the shortest possible path to final storage from all locations
3. Adopt a cloud-first data storage strategy
4. Create a golden master of all data using immutable objects
5. Protect, detect, recover

For further advice on how to protect your company’s data, you can download, “A blueprint for the sanctity of unstructured data for the energy sector”, here.

After reading this guide, you’ll have an understanding of the approach I learned (and have all the bruises to prove) and developed over my career. If you’re interested in chatting with me about what is and isn’t working in your environment, send me an email at [email protected].