Q:
A:
A data manager is responsible for maintaining all confidential files generated by your company. The candidate must understand the importance of backing up data on servers and workstations used throughout your organization. Security practices must be followed to prevent unauthorized access to the data, and disaster recovery plans must be followed to protect your company against data loss. The data manager must follow proper backup and security protocol for your company’s files.
What to look for in an answer:
“I created backup media for all servers and workstations daily, allowing the backups to capture all data that was changed throughout the workday. All backup media was stored in an off-site and secure location.”
Q:
A:
A data manager develops and implements new data systems when the information system is upgraded or changed. He or she follows current IT standards and regulations for the new systems and ensures that the products remain compliant with federal laws for storing confidential records and information. The candidate must have experience in designing new systems, evaluating the integration with your existing infrastructure and following all necessary security standards for storing the data.
What to look for in an answer:
“I followed all IT standards for developing new data systems for storing and protecting data while conducting implementation protocols to ensure compliance with current regulations.”
Q:
A:
A data manager follows strict protocols to prevent workers from sharing data with unauthorized users. He or she must adhere to standards and ensure that workers stick to strict guidelines for transmitting confidential files or information between departments and to outside sources. The candidate must have experience tracking access to the data systems and blocking unauthorized workers from opening or sharing files illegally. He or she must enforce strict sharing practices and lower the risk of data loss.
What to look for in an answer:
“Working closely with the network and systems administrators, I enforced authorization and authentication practices for data sharing between departments and outside or remote users.”
Q:
A:
A data manager is responsible for evaluating how current systems, software, hardware and data storage devices perform. The services must meet current IT standards and federal laws as well. He or she recommends alterations when the current systems aren’t serving your company at top levels or fail to comply with standards through upgrades. The applicant creates a full report conveying their recommendations for the changes and presents feasibility studies showing why the updates are necessary.
What to look for in an answer:
“I conducted research for the latest software, hardware and data storage options for the company through IT seminars and reports explaining the benefits of the investments.”
Q:
A:
A data manager devises disaster recovery plans for data storage systems. The protocol involves backing up files as soon as changes are made and removing the data storage media from the property daily. The backup media is used to restore the files if an attack happens that causes your company to lose all of its data or if the information becomes corrupted. He or she uses the same recovery plan if your business property is destroyed.
What to look for in an answer:
“The disaster recovery plan mitigates the risk of data loss and helps companies protect their data from attacks that lead to data corruption and potential identity theft liabilities.”
Q:
A:
Data managers are responsible for protecting the security of the data they collect. They should not only know how to prevent security breaches, they should know how to limit their negative impact if they occur. Interviewers should ask this question to assess whether a candidate understands best practices for emergency response to a breach. Strong candidates will have a general plan for determining if sensitive data was affected by a security issue and preventing similar problems in the future.
Look for these elements of a candidate's response:
Here is one good response:
"The first priority is to repair the issues that caused the breach to prevent further data leaks and take additional security measures to identify other vulnerabilities. I'd begin researching the extent of the breach to determine what kinds of information was released and the potential consequences of the security problem. This would help me be able to approach the people affected by the leak with potential solutions, showing accountability for our role in learning from new forms of cyber attacks."