Bringing Real-Time Data Discovery to the Cybersecurity Puzzle

One solution is helping organizations keep data private at rest and in motion, easing the data discovery process and helping organizations meet compliance regulations

While protecting consumer privacy has always been a concern for enterprises, recent developments in global compliance regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) and California’s upcoming Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), have added a sense of urgency to this responsibility. Of particular interest is data in motion, as data streams have become a target for cybercriminals.

According to Paige Bartley, Senior Analyst at 451 Research, “As privacy and data protection regulations develop, there is an implied mandate to control all sensitive data within the enterprise, regardless of whether it is in motion or at rest.” In other words, regulations are forcing enterprises to safeguard the privacy of more types of data, presenting a new challenge to enterprises, which are now obligated to comply with more stringent sets of rules.

Io-Tahoe, a big data management solution company based in New York, aims to provide a solution to enterprises undergoing the task of data governance with its Smart Discovery Platform, which uses big data concepts to combine sensitive data discovery with data flow analytics. The platform works by identifying data relationships and analyzing individual data elements to determine whether sensitive data is being revealed.

Io-Tahoe’s chief technology and product officer, Rohit Mahajan, added: “Organizations can use the platform to discover data and where it is located and also have the ability to understand what data is sensitive and flag it before it lands in data stores, all in real-time.” The Smart Discovery Platform’s ability to garner insight in real time is what makes it unique among data discovery platforms. Additionally, because the platform takes advantage of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), it is particularly useful for generating insights for high-volume data transactions.

A key feature of the Smart Discovery Platform is its Smart Streaming Discovery capability, which identifies personally identifiable information (PII) using AI. As PII is the subject of privacy regulations, it is considered sensitive information, which is particularly important to protect. Previously, fully identifying PII was a manual and labor-intensive process that required several algorithms to be applied to a data store, with the task of uncovering hidden associations between data elements, presenting a major difficulty for data discovery.

“The volume of sensitive data in motion at any given time continues to be a risk to organizations that depend upon privacy for brand, regulatory and compliance issues,” noted John Santaferraro, research director at Enterprise Management Associates.

Io-Tahoe’s technology platform aims to lessen that risk. The platform brings governance to data both at rest and in motion, and its paradigm is easy to execute. It can be used as a cloud instance or installed on-premises and finds hidden and previously unknown data relationships. These discoveries are logged in a catalog, which business professionals can use to build a database of data sources and critical data relationships.

Io-Tahoe can connect to several data platforms, including IBM DB2, Sybase, MS SQL and most cloud-sourced data sources. After connecting to these platforms, Io-Tahoe’s intelligent automation data discovery technology can give decision-makers the necessary information to capture, manage and govern data, thus ensuring privacy and compliance with relevant regulations.

“Knowing where the data about your customer resides is no longer a luxury,” said Io-Tahoe’s Chief Executive Officer Oksana Sojolovsky, “it is increasingly a mandatory requirement. Companies that cannot achieve this goal face civil penalties; even more importantly, they could face irrevocable reputational damage.” Added Mahajan: “By contrast, those companies that are able to monitor PII at every stage as part of a trustworthy relationship with their customers are more likely to build a long-lasting relationship with them.”

As concerns about privacy increasingly become a focus of legislative bodies, enterprises will rely on solutions that help secure data at rest and in motion. As it stands, Io-Tahoe has a head start in the field of discovering privacy concerns within data in motion and provides an example for how safeguarding PII should be approached.

Tyler Ohlhorst contributed to this story

Frank Ohlhorst

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Frank Ohlhorst

Frank is an award-winning technology journalist and IT industry analyst, with extensive experience as a business consultant, editor, author, and blogger. Frank works with both technology startups and established technology ventures, helping them to build channel programs, launch products, validate product quality, create marketing materials, author case studies, eBooks and white papers.

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