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DATA SECURITY KNOWLEDGE BASE

Content Aware Security

Digital Guardian’s Content Aware Security is the Only Solution Offering the Comprehensive Protection Modern Enterprises Demand

A data leakage protection (DLP) solution is not comprehensive without content aware security, or the ability to understand the contents of data itself. Data security solutions must be able to identify and protect sensitive data automatically to provide adequate defense against the modern threats facing enterprises.


Content Aware Security Solutions Provide Complete Visibility

Content aware DLP solutions dig into and decipher actual data to read and understand the information within, whether that means the content within an email message, data contained in an Excel document, Word document, PDF, or other file format embedded within a file or program, and any other data contained within programs, folders, or files.


The content aware security approach protects enterprises from insider threats, which are often the source of data leakage that would ordinarily be protected by other security measures. Content aware security controls are a key element of a comprehensive measure against the risks posed by the human element, such as employees or vendors, whether these threats are intentional or unintentional.


The File Cabinet Analogy for Understanding Content Aware Security

To understand content aware security, it’s helpful to think of your enterprise data as it would be stored within a filing cabinet. Content aware security solutions monitor and read all the data contained within each and every file folder in a cabinet, identifying sensitive data even when it’s misplaced or stored within a file folder not properly classified as sensitive. The result is a much more effective means of protecting enterprise data in a modern environment.


Enterprise Email Communications Create Security Challenges

The most common focus (and the most obvious benefit) of content aware security is the protection provided for enterprise email communications. It’s difficult to control what employees send through their enterprise email accounts without hindering the benefits of email as a communications tool. Enterprises rely on email, but email also leaves the door open for data leakage through message content, attachments, and even subject lines or document macros. Because email is so engrained in modern business practices, employees often don’t realize that their communications contain highly sensitive information.


Content aware security solutions are able to read, decipher, and identify potentially sensitive data before it’s leaked, including text found in email subject lines, message content, file attachments and their contents, other objects, files, and elements embedded within file attachments, and even document properties and comments. Content aware security solutions must monitor and protect data in motion, in use, and at rest for complete protection against leaks. These advanced solutions are capable of identifying and protecting data that’s often unnoticed by employees and otherwise leaked unintentionally.


Web Applications Pose Risks to Data Protection without Content Aware Security

Email applications are not the sole source of data leakage that can be prevented with content aware security. Web applications and cloud storage solutions contain a plethora of highly sensitive information, and, due to the nature of some advanced applications, often contain more data or data of higher proprietary value than many email communications.


For the most comprehensive data leak protection, a content aware security solution should provide continuous monitoring and visibility for every interaction occurring via web or cloud storage applications. Automatic data classification and encryption are also essential components of content aware security solutions for enterprises demanding the most stringent data security in today’s highly competitive landscape.


The Only Content Aware Security Solution Offering Continuous Monitoring and Complete Visibility

Digital Guardian is the only content aware security solution offering continuous monitoring and complete visibility for the world’s leading enterprises. Digital Guardian works behind the scenes to discover and classify content within emails and attachments, content within web applications and cloud storage applications, content stored on or copied to removable storage devices, and all enterprise data – at rest, in use, or in motion. This enables granular policy-based controls such as warning, blocking, or automatically encrypting content to offer streamlined and comprehensive data loss prevention.


Digital Guardian’s content aware security capabilities are made even stronger by its unique context awareness. Context awareness builds on the intelligence provided by content awareness, enabling Digital Guardian to see and protect sensitive data not only based on file contents, but also by contextual factors including file, user, and application type as well as the source and destination of each file.


With automatic data classification, encryption, and fine-tuned data controls, sensitive data will never leave the secure constraints defined by your enterprise’s custom policies and regulations. Most importantly, this ongoing protection enables enterprises to conduct business as usual, without disruptions to critical business processes, while simultaneously maintaining a heightened level of security and visibility.


These features are coupled with sophisticated forensic event logs, driving the creation of more effective policies, highlighting gaps in employee security training, and improving the efficacy of alerting and reporting.


Digital Guardian’s content aware security solution is the only solution providing this level of ongoing protection that never misses a beat yet works seamlessly to produce zero disruptions to enterprise workflow.