Data protection refers to the practices, technologies, and controls used to prevent data from being accessed, altered, disclosed, or lost without authorization. It covers how sensitive information is collected, stored, transmitted, and disposed of, with measures such as encryption, access controls, backups, and data masking helping reduce the risk of misuse or exposure.
In practice, data protection is especially important for personal, financial, and confidential business information. For example, an organization may encrypt customer records while restricting access to authorized employees and maintaining secure backups for recovery. Data protection is closely connected to cybersecurity, privacy, access management, encryption, and data governance.
