What is a Data Security Platform? Example, Benefits and Advice

A data security platform incorporates a collection of data security software tools to monitor user activity, carry out data discovery and classification, prevent security incidents and breaches, enforce compliance and control access to sensitive data.

Data security platforms are critical for modern enterprises. They provide visibility of both structured and unstructured data across the business, feeding compliance programs with reliable reporting. They also enable organizations to track and protect data across the web, cloud applications, within emails and throughout the network.

There are many different types of data security platforms, each with their own security and compliance functionalities. Here’s a closer look at what software is involved, the benefits of a unified data security platform, and advice on how to best take advantage of its capabilities.

Data security platforms must provide visibility and control over data across the various applications the workforce interacts with to truly improve security. 

Security solutions that are commonly seen in a platform include:

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): At the heart of a data security platform sits the data control capabilities. Usually taking the form of DLP, this software enables organizations to secure data in the cloud, on the web, in emails, at the endpoint and throughout the network using either a single policy or a collection of them. It achieves this through the creation of DLP policies, which dictate how different user groups can interact with customer data or sensitive data.
• Data Security Posture Management (DSPM): Data discovery and classification is essential to informing DLP policies what data needs protection and where it is located. DSPM helps companies scan their cloud and on-premises data storage environments, identify the sensitive data stored there and tag it to ensure it is covered under any DLP policy. This also helps ensure the business is following any industry or country-specific compliance regulations by showing they have a process in place to discover, classify and protect relevant data.
• Access Control: Data rarely sits somewhere without users interacting with it, and that’s where access control comes in. Whether through integrated functionality or as part of a unified portfolio approach, a data security platform must extend DLP policy coverage to web and cloud applications. This is commonly achieved through a web security solution or a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), providing not only access management for these applications but also continuous control over the data used within them.
• Encryption: Organizations must be able to secure both structured and unstructured data in storage or in transit on the network. Encryption capabilities, combined with network DLP functionality, enable this.
• Data Detection and Response (DDR): Real-time response to security incidents is critical and DDR solutions allow just that. By providing context on how a data breach or leak may have occurred and what events took place, businesses can respond to these events much faster and protect data much better.
• Risk-Adaptive Protection: Employees can become insider threats over night and with some maintaining large swaths of access to data, it’s critical to ensure that data security policies evolve in real time. Software like Risk-Adaptive Protection (RAP) can evaluate user behavior, put their actions into context and adjust DLP policies to match any emerging risk – or safe behavior.

While all data security platform will vary in what software is included, the above functionalities should be foundational elements.

At its core, the goal of a data security platform is to secure data everywhere it goes. However, the underlying use cases for this can vary from business to business.

Of course, the most popular use case is to prevent data breaches. This fundamental concept is the largest driver in usage as data security platforms safeguard the usage of data across all key channels. 

One example is within email, where a DLP can stop a user from sending sensitive data outside of the organization. Another is within a cloud application, where organizations can prevent users from uploading data to unapproved cloud applications.

Another common use case is compliance. There are two core activities involved in compliance that a data security platform excels at:

• Proving compliance, through the discovery, classification and protection of data.
• Enforcing compliance, through pre-defined templates and policies.

While DLP software varies in terms of how strong its compliance functionality is, there are some such as Forcepoint DLP which offer out-of-the-box compliance for 80+ countries and a range of industries.

Beyond those two, there are many niche use cases that a company may adopt a data security platform for. One could be to get visibility of data shared within Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications such as Microsoft Teams. Another could be to control how data is used on web applications such as generative AI, preventing users from potentially leaking sensitive data.

At the end of the day, data security platforms can help companies cover a large variety of use cases with the help of a strong partnership and talented experts to fine tune the solutions.

Data security platforms first and foremost reduce risk across the enterprise by providing unparalleled visibility and control over data, wherever users interact with it. 

However, they are also a powerful driver of cost savings. By unifying data protection solutions under one vendor, organizations can displace high-spend, single-purpose options that often don’t integrate well within the technology stack.

Organizations often see increases in productivity through the improved data protection. Greater policy coverage enables a workforce to take advantage of emerging technologies such as generative AI without worrying IT about putting data at risk. 

Lastly, companies can streamline compliance through out-of-the-box policy building found in top-tier DLP solutions. Practitioners can create a policy and extend it across web, cloud and more areas in just a few clicks.