Data security is on everyone’s mind these days, and for good reason. Although the number of data breaches in the first half of 2017 was about the same as the first halves of 2015 and 2016, the number of records stolen between January 1 and June 30, 2017 has exceeded all of 2016. And that’s not counting one of largest security breaches of all time, announced in September. Many factors are contributing to the increase in successful attacks – the erosion of network perimeters and increased attack surfaces offered by more complex IT environments, a growing use of cloud services and the new demands that places on security practices, and the increasingly sophisticated nature of cyber criminals – and the landscape continues to evolve.

Security testing is growing faster than any other security market, as AST solutions adapt to new development methodologies and increased application complexity. Security and risk management leaders must integrate AST into their application security programs.

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Fear of data misuse has led to both general and industry-specific data-privacy regulations worldwide that many organizations now must meet, and it’s important to embrace their requirements. The role of data-holding organizations has increasingly shifted to being stewards of information, in particular in the United States and the European Union (EU). And failure to comply with regulations can mean not only reputational damage, but substantial fines and even jail time. Just meeting compliance mandates, though, may not help you actively spot and stop a data breach.

Data—dynamic, in demand and distributed—is challenging to secure. But you need to protect sensitive data, whether it’s stored on-premises, off-site, or in big-data, private- or hybrid-cloud environments. Protecting sensitive data can take many forms, but nearly any organization needs to keep its data accessible, protect data from loss or compromise, and comply with a raft of regulations and mandates. These can include the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the European Union (EU). General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Even in the cloud, where you may have less immediate control, you must still control your sensitive data—and compliance mandates still apply.