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D05

Data Security Architecture

About The Standard Domain 

The Data Security Architecture domain defines how organizations classify, protect, manage, and govern data throughout its lifecycle.

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It provides architectural expectations for secure storage, controlled access, secure exchange, resilient recovery, retention practices, and traceable governance controls needed to protect sensitive information and maintain operational trust.

Data Classification

Secure Storage

Controlled Access

Protection & Recovery

Governance & Traceability

Why Adoption is Necessary

Architectural Clarity

 

Provides a clear blueprint for protecting data across systems, applications, repositories, and exchanges.

Consistent Engineering Expectations

Aligns teams on secure handling, storage, sharing, retention, disposal, and recovery of sensitive data.

Measurable Verification

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Supports validation of data protection controls, lifecycle practices, access decisions, and resilience outcomes.

Stronger Evidence 

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Improves traceability and defensible evidence for data security design, implementation, control operation, and review.

How The Standard Works

Requirements

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Define the outcomes and capabilities data architectures must achieve to protect information effectively.

Technical Specifications

Provide the architectural patterns, protection methods, and control expectations needed to meet the requirements.

Verification and Validation

Define how to test, verify, and validate that data protection controls and recovery measures operate as intended.

Implementation Guidance

Offer practical guidance, patterns, and best practices to implement the standard effectively across real environments.

Associate Standards Preview

Associate Standards Coming in Q3 2026 

Detailed, implementation-level standards that support D01 will be published in Q3 2026 to help teams operationalize secure network architectures.

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Built for Builders. Backed by Evidence.

D05 provides the architectural foundation for secure data environments, designed, engineered, and proven to protect information across storage, use, sharing, retention, recovery, and governance.

Governance by:

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Training by:

Practitioner and Organizational Use

The Defensible 10 Standards (D10S) are published under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).


This license permits free use, adaptation, and internal implementation of the D10S by individual practitioners, educational institutions, and organizations for the purpose of research, training, architecture design, or internal security engineering.


Attribution to ISAUnited.org must be maintained in all uses, reproductions, or derivative works.

Commercial, Vendor, and Integration Use

The use, reproduction, or incorporation of the Defensible 10 Standards (D10S) or their content within commercial products, software, tooling, managed services, or for-profit offerings requires a separate commercial integration or redistribution license issued by the Institute of Security Architecture United (ISAUnited.org).


This includes but is not limited to:

  • Integration into commercial or subscription-based platforms or software tools

  • Use in vendor-branded frameworks or automated compliance products

  • Redistribution of modified or adapted versions for resale or commercial benefit

 

Requests for commercial licensing or integration agreements should be directed to:  info@isaunited.org

© 2026 The Defensible 10 Standards (D10S). Owned, operated, and maintained by the Institute of Security Architecture United (ISAUnited.org).

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