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Unstructured Data

Unstructured data is data that lacks a predetermined structure or format. Some examples are text documents, images, or audio files. Unlike structured data such as database tables, unstructured data does not conform to a consistent data model and schema, and is often more difficult to search, sort, and analyze.  

Unstructured data is often stored in blob storage or a data lake – specialized file-based storage systems that are designed to handle large amounts of unstructured data. 

In the context of cloud data security, unstructured data can pose a challenge. It might be more difficult to identify sensitive data assets, compared to a relational database.

Object storage might not support the same level of granular permissions and access control as can be found in popular databases.