Data steward

A data steward looks after what the data means and whether it can be trusted. Typical duties include maintaining business definitions and metadata, setting and monitoring quality rules, and resolving inconsistencies between systems. Stewards are usually subject matter experts from the business side, such as a finance team that keeps pay codes accurate, rather than IT staff. The role comes from data governance practice rather than from a single security standard, and it is not among the data roles the ISC2 outline lists under objective 2.4.

The steward is easily confused with both the data owner and the data custodian. The owner is accountable for the data set as an asset: it sets the data classification and approves access. The custodian implements the technical protections the owner has decided on, such as backups and permissions. The steward is responsible for data quality and meaning, often under delegation from an owner who keeps the accountability. A short way to hold the three apart: the owner decides, the custodian protects, and the steward keeps the data correct.

Exam relevance: a scenario is likely to describe inconsistent definitions, poor-quality records or missing metadata and ask which role should act. Candidates are expected to route quality and meaning to the steward, and classification and access decisions to the owner.