The sheer amount of data "out there" is growing at a staggering rate. In 2010, according to an IBM estimate, total recorded data was doubling every eleven hours. Don't be surprised if it is growing at a similar pace within your organization. Some of it may be outdated, and much more may be harmless. But you still need to keep track of it, or how will you know?

And data breaches are an unwelcome fact of life. Last year saw hackers steal 100 million customers' data from Sony, as well as the WikiLeaks breach that exposed thousands of highly sensitive US government documents. Only days ago, retailer Zappos suffered a customer data breach – while Symantec admitted that hackers had made off with source code for Norton security applications.

The search for convenience opens new potential security vulnerabilities – Dropbox, Facebook, iCloud, and a host of channels through which sensitive data can leak out. And on the flip side of new security hazards are ever-evolving new legislative rules and compliance standards.

One powerful line of defense for your confidential data is Data Masking, a measure that replaces sensitive data with harmless but realistic data for training, testing, and other operational purposes. Basic data masking can also be enhanced, providing Dynamic Data Masking. With this technique in place, a security proxy stands guard between sensitive data and access points. Sensitive data is provided only to the most trusted, double-checked users.

To learn more about security threats, and how Data Masking can strengthen your defenses, download Vitaly Dubravin's presentation at Chicago Tech-Security Conference below.