What are data, information, knowledge, and wisdom?

Do you know the difference between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom? If you think they are all the same thing, you might miss out on valuable insights that can help you protect your privacy and security online. This post will examine these terms, why they matter, and how to use them to improve your information security posture.

Let’s start with an analogy.

• Data is like a pile of bricks.
• Information is like a house built with those bricks.
• Knowledge is like a map of the house.
• And wisdom is like knowing how to find your way around the house in the dark.

Alright, let’s break this down.

Data is essential for information security and privacy because it is the foundation on which everything else is built. If you don't have any data, you can't have any information, knowledge, or wisdom. And if your data is not secure or private, then your information, knowledge, and wisdom are all at risk.

Here are some specific examples of how data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are used in information security and privacy:

• Data: Data is everywhere. It’s the raw material generated or received every day. Data has little value without context, just 1’s and 0’s on a hard drive somewhere.
• Information: Information is data that has been contextualised and can be used for organisations to understand their customers and operations better, for example.
• Knowledge: Knowledge is the ability to apply that information to solve problems based on previous experiences, improve efficiency and productivity, or develop new from product features to marketing campaigns.
• Wisdom: Wisdom is used to make long-term decisions with this knowledge, prepare for future opportunities, and prepare to address the risks.

Data becomes information when it has meaning; information becomes knowledge when it has understanding; knowledge becomes wisdom when it has perspective.

Information allows you to make decisions, knowledge will enable you to make good decisions, and wisdom allows you to make wise decisions.

Data and information are tangible assets, but knowledge and wisdom are intangible. They only exist in people’s heads or collective minds.

Let’s revisit our discussion on Information Security vs. Cyber Security vs. Privacy. Protecting data is a cybersecurity responsibility. Information protection is more under the information security banner.

Key Takeaways

• Data is an enabler, but has little value in itself. The cybersecurity team usually protects it.
• Information adds organisational context to that date, helping you to make decisions. This becomes the responsibility of the

Next steps

You can improve your information security posture by:

• Understand your data. Where is your data stored and processed? How is it protected?
• Ensure policies support protecting your data and information. Do you have good policies and supporting standards? Who is accountable for protecting data? And information?
• Trust but verify. Data or information loss is forever. Do you have evidence that your backups are tested, access reviews are done, and unauthorised accesses are identified and reviewed?