The last thing you want in an organization is that everyone

The last thing you want in an organization is that everyone is accountable but no one is responsible. Therefore, the data owner should be in which of the following groups?

A. End users

B. Technical managers

C. Senior management

D. Everyone is responsible; therefore, all groups are owners

Solution

C. Senior management is the ultimate owner because these individuals are responsible for the asset and must answer if a compromise occurs. Although answer C is the best possible choice, it is important to realize that, in most cases, the data owner will be a member of management but might not be the most senior position within the company. For example, the CFO would be the data owner for all financial data, the director of human resources would be the data owner for all HR data, and so on. All other answers are incorrect because end users, technical managers, and other employees are not typically the data owners.