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Spirion Swipes Cybersecurity Gold for Data Classification
At the RSA Conference earlier this month, Spirion announced it had won the Gold Cybersecurity Excellence Product Award in the Data Classification category. Spirion offers dedicated focus, solely on data discovery and classification. It aims to help organizations protect their important information by first identifying what their most sensitive data is and where it resides. From there, through tagging, centralized management, and remote control, organizations are able to properly operationalize data classification policies for adequate data protection.
Some standout features boasted by Spirion include the following:
- Unique ability to identify sensitive data through customizable icons that display as file overlays viewable in Windows Explorer and the simple application of metadata tags to sensitive data with persistent updates, as the file updates. As a result, users are educated and empowered to take proper measures to proactively protect data appropriately.
- Impressive speed and precision for discovery, classification, and protection of data. Analytics and machine learning algorithms are used to identify and protect structured and unstructured data – all document types, including images and charts, on desktops, shared drivers, or in the cloud are supported.
- Automated discovery, classification, and protection of data, both at rest and in use. Spirion’s solution aims to rely less on end users’ input, therefore, reducing disruption to business and daily tasks. These classifications can still be fine-tuned, along with providing more information on data users, data owners, and how data is used.
Our Take
Heightened regulatory privacy and security requirements have been highlighting the critical need for accurate and efficient data classification for businesses of all sizes – all of whom are overwhelmed with massive amounts of sensitive data sprawled across the organization.
However, it is important to remember that despite all the success rates, efficiency scores, and speed tests boasted by any vendor, it comes down to how users are trained and how data is actually handled. A solution is only as good as it is being used.
Tools such as Spirion’s complement and strengthen data loss prevention (DLP) efforts nicely, but unless users are aware of how to appropriately handle data and there are other measures in place, it cannot protect data in isolation. Focusing on employee use of data is foundational to the success of any data classification tool. Further, be cautious of vendors claiming that a top score reflects how effective a product will be for your organization. Consider factors such as cost, ease of implementation, stability, integration with existing solutions, and more.