Tracking data access and lineages is a necessity for modern businesses, both for reasons of compliance, security and peace of mind. But actually doing it is harder than it would at first seem.
Who actually has access to this data?
This is a question that shows up surprisingly often in some circles. It’s not always well tracked! Keeping track of access is, however, the first step towards being able to establish key information like chains of custody, alterations to data and data lineage.
One of the reasons this question is even more complicated in the current day is the advent of AI tools in the workplace. Quite often, a given employee will not have access to a certain piece of information – but the AI assistant he is given does!
This is an issue that’s been raised before. An AI system will require access to a pool of information it can use for generating responses. Limit the pool, and you limit accuracy, sometimes to your great detriment as Air Canada found. Broaden it, by contrast, and you risk exposing key information.
Even without looking specifically at AI, data access can be frustratingly opaque. Former employees, legacy logins, and other factors can combine to make current access permissions not always a complete image.
Beyond access
Access isn’t the end of the story: the next part is establishing lineage and chain of custody. It’s not asking who can read or overwrite the data at this point in time, but rather who has made changes to it in the past.
Regulatory frameworks also increasingly expect traceable and documented data flows. For example, the EU AI Act requires organizations to trace the provenance of an AI model’s training data.
Beyond simple regulation, lineage and a good chain of custody carries value to the host organization itself. Without visibility into how data is created, changed and shared, teams struggle to maintain data quality, transparency and reliability.
Storing information in an immutable archive is one possibility for how to begin taking control of your data – freezing it in time and ensuring an accurate snapshot is possible.
Your Data in Your hands – With TECH-ARROW
by Matúš Koronthály
Image generated by Canva
