Verdasys, Fidelis Take on Large DLP Vendors

Verdasys and Fidelis Security Systems are integrating their technologies to push a coordinated approach to data leak prevention that spans the network and an organization’s endpoints.

Verdasys makes Digital Guardian, host-based DLP tool that discovers, classifies, monitors and controls data. On the network side of DLP is Fidelis’ Extrusion Prevention System. The combination of the two technologies will allow the companies to take on larger security vendors such as Symantec and McAfee, Verdasys CEO Seth Birnbaum said.

“The large vendors and even some leading analysts are only now beginning to realize the importance of a unified data-centric, policy-based approach to security … [and] the large security vendors’ approach of integrating diverse point products that span multiple infrastructure layers will be time consuming, very expensive and incomplete,” Birnbaum said.

Verdasys and Fidelis step into this fray with plans to integrate Fidelis' XPS network monitoring with Digital Guardian’s data-level visibility and data risk analysis. The combination will heighten visibility and control over data as well as enhance remote data discovery, he said, adding that the products will be fully integrated this year.

In a research note, Nick Selby, an analyst with The 451 Group, called such a hybrid agent- and network-based approach to data leak prevention sensible. The first true integration phase will involve the sharing of alerts and information between the two systems, with one effectively adding context to the other, Selby wrote.

“Between them, Fidelis and Verdasys have highly specific features that can stand up to the offerings of several larger vendors,” he said in an interview with eWEEK. “On their own, each company has carved a niche for itself and is known for specific functionality and appeal.”

The main competition to this partnership will likely come from vendors offering product suites that address both network- and host-based DLP. Though many products are focused on stopping data leaks at one or the other, an integrated approach to DLP is key for enterprises, Birnbaum said.

“It’s not about the endpoint or the network; it’s about the data,” he said. “Until customers can maintain, manage, control and understand data usage and enforce policy where data is at risk, no level of suite integration will address the problem. Companies who are serious about data security will quickly recognize the value of a data-centric platform.”