HelpSystems Data Loss Prevention - Short Review

Product Overview: HelpSystems’ Digital Guardian Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

HelpSystems’ acquisition of Digital Guardian has significantly enhanced its data security portfolio with a robust Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution. Digital Guardian, now a part of HelpSystems, is a comprehensive DLP platform designed to protect an organization’s sensitive data from loss, misuse, or unauthorized access.

What it Does

Digital Guardian’s DLP solution is engineered to automate and improve an organization’s data protection efforts. It focuses on discovering, monitoring, logging, and blocking threats to sensitive data, ensuring compliance with various regulatory requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. This solution is crucial for organizations handling sensitive information, particularly in highly regulated industries like defense, finance, government, and healthcare.

Key Features and Functionality

Data Discovery

Digital Guardian’s automated Data Discovery feature scans the organization’s digital environment to identify and catalog sensitive data across various locations, including cloud services, on-premises servers, endpoint devices, and mobile units.

Monitoring and Policy Enforcement

The solution continuously monitors data handling and transactions in real-time, ensuring that predefined policies regarding sensitive data are adhered to. It enforces rules about where sensitive data can be stored, how it can be used, and with whom it can be shared. Automatic enforcement actions include encryption, quarantining files, or blocking activities that violate these policies.

Data Classification

Digital Guardian classifies data based on its sensitivity level, regulatory requirements, and business value. This classification helps in understanding the context in which data is used, differentiating between legitimate and suspicious activities.

Access Control

The solution controls who has access to sensitive data, based on roles and responsibilities within the organization. This ensures that only authorized personnel can handle sensitive information.

Endpoint Protection

Digital Guardian’s Endpoint DLP captures and records all system, user, and data events on endpoints, providing broad coverage and control across Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints. It protects data both when connected to the corporate network and offline, with granular controls to fine-tune responses based on user, risk level, or other factors.

Cloud and Network Protection

The solution extends its DLP capabilities to cloud applications and storage, providing repository scanning, encryption, and auditing. It also monitors and controls the flow of sensitive data through multiple communications channels, including email, web, and file transfer protocols.

Analytics and Reporting

Digital Guardian’s Analytics & Reporting Cloud (ARC) correlates and analyzes system, user, and data events from endpoint agents and network appliances, providing comprehensive insights and reports to help organizations meet compliance requirements and identify gaps in their information security posture.

Managed Security Program

The Managed Security Program (MSP) outsources the hosting, administration, and management of the data security platform to HelpSystems’ in-house security experts, offering an extension of the customer’s security team to protect sensitive data from both internal and external threats.

Secure Collaboration and Zero Trust

The solution includes Secure Collaboration features that protect files with AES 256-bit encryption and enable dynamic changing of permissions and access to data. It also integrates with Zero Trust File Transfer and Secure Service Edge (SSE) solutions to secure access and maintain control over sensitive data on employee devices accessing public or private cloud apps.

Deployment and Benefits

Digital Guardian is available as a SaaS solution, powered by AWS, which reduces overhead, complexity, and cost while adding simplicity and speed. This deployment model enables faster startup and greater progress towards solution maturity. The intuitive, out-of-the-box dashboards provide immediate visibility into threats and help identify data egress quickly.

In summary, HelpSystems’ Digital Guardian DLP solution offers a holistic approach to data protection, ensuring that sensitive data is safeguarded across all environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or on endpoint devices. Its robust features and functionalities make it an essential tool for organizations seeking to protect their data and maintain regulatory compliance.