DSP vs DSPM: Solving the Data Security Puzzle

As your business embarks on its data security journey, you’ll need to choose the ideal tool to safeguard your digital assets. Today’s choice can set the tone for your organization’s data protection now and far into the future. It’s a crossroads moment: do you invest in a Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solution or a Data Security Platform (DSP)? Is there really that much of a difference between the two, and why should you select one over the other?

For many companies, choosing a DSPM seems like the natural first step. It’s a useful tool for helping businesses get a handle on their data security posture, pinpointing vulnerabilities and categorizing sensitive information to create a clear data protection roadmap. However, as your business expands and its data security requirements become more complex, you’ll likely find yourself in need of something more.

Choosing a DSP right at the start makes for a smoother, more integrated solution that provides the tools needed to assess and organize data and protect and manage it effectively. A DSP that evolves with your organization allows you to sidestep the hassle of switching between tools later on and lays the groundwork for a simpler, more comprehensive data security strategy from day one.

What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?

DSPM is a helpful data security and governance tool that continuously scans vast volumes of data to uncover vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber attackers. However, unlike a DSP, it does not work proactively to prevent future incidents; instead, it highlights existing issues that demand immediate remedy.

Considered a reliable assessment tool, DSPM evaluates data access and permissions, conducting comprehensive security audits that ensure only authorized personnel have access to sensitive information. For instance, the technology can identify employees accessing confidential data irrelevant to their roles or detect sensitive information that was inadvertently made accessible to the entire organization. These insights shine a spotlight on gaps in data management practices and point to areas where data security might be compromised.

While DSPM systems are adept at assessing an organization’s data security infrastructure, flagging irregularities, and discovering unknown structured and unstructured data, they do not directly prevent future incidents. They also have no policy component or self-service data access, meaning they do not help facilitate access to the sensitive data they’ve discovered.

An all-around DSP solution like Velotix assesses and organizes classified data just as a DSPM does and then takes it one step further, enforcing data policies and security measures and delivering a significant return on investment as your organization and data protection needs grow.

DSP: Innovation in Finding and Securing Data

At a time when data is viewed as an inestimable treasure, a data security platform is like a formidable digital guardian, providing comprehensive protection against numerous threats flooding the cyber landscape. Rather than simply identifying and assessing vulnerabilities, it proactively steps into the security fray, detecting potential threats and implementing measures to safeguard sensitive data from harm.

A DSP also acts as a centralized command center, orchestrating a symphony of security measures and tools to construct an impregnable defense against data breaches and leaks. It streamlines the data protection process across various cloud environments, ensuring data remains secure yet accessible while enhancing the overall efficiency of an organization’s data management.

Unlike DSPM, a DSP demonstrates its value in the data security landscape by offering comprehensive, dynamic protection. It goes beyond standard monitoring capabilities, leveraging advanced technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence to proactively adapt to evolving cyber threats, ensuring swift response to potential compromises. It also facilitates secure data access, enabling controlled access to sensitive information through robust policy components and integrations that ensure data security and streamlined data management. An essential tool for efficient and effective data protection that surpasses conventional solutions, a DSP is the tool of choice for data protection in today’s complex digital environment.

The Advantages of a DSP vs. DSPM

The difference between a DSPM and a DSP is similar to the one between a basic mobile phone with calling and texting capabilities and a smartphone that supports calling, texting, and a high-quality camera all in one device. When you invest in a DSP, you don’t need to spend resources on multiple solutions to keep your data secure.

A DSP offers several advantages, including ease of use, less maintenance, and lower operating costs. Velotix’s core capabilities include:

• Fine-grained policy management, the most granular and flexible form of policy management.
• Fine-grained access provisioning/enforcement that uses several privacy-enhancing technologies to go above and beyond simply allowing/denying access to entire data tables.
• Approval workflows that are configurable per company, use, and/or department, providing a flexible solution for dictating and routing organization-wide data requests according to rules and regulations
• Self-service capabilities that ensure there’s no longer a single data gatekeeper; rather, any designated person or team can request or approve access to data.
• Metadata management that uses a common language/tagging method for metadata, making it completely searchable per an organization’s language.

At a time when a single breach can cost a business as much as $180 per stolen PII record, not to mention reputational damage and loss of customer trust, a DSP can be the solution you need to fully secure your organization’s data while minimizing the risk of costly breaches.

Advancing Data Security With a DSP

None of this is to say that DSPMs aren’t useful, as they play a significant role in assessing an organization’s data security posture. However, after comparing each solution’s features, it’s easy to see that a DSP is the more comprehensive and robust choice for data security. In other words, while many DSPMs include data discovery, audit trails, and auto-tagging, a DSP picks up where the DSPM leaves off, enhancing risk management and assuring regulatory compliance with features like data access recommendations, automated policy management, and permission analysis.

A DSP’s proactive approach to risk management ensures threats are neutralized before they can cause significant damage, ensuring your organization’s security measures adhere to the strict data regulations of GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. For instance, in the healthcare industry, where hospitals need to secure patient data, a DSP can not only identify weak access controls but can also take targeted action, enhancing encryption protocols to protect data in transit and at rest while implementing stricter access controls like multi-factor authentication and role-based access restrictions. This ensures that only authorized personnel can access sensitive patient information, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.

Navigating the Future of Data Security

Emerging trends and challenges are reshaping the data security landscape. The increasing complexity of cyber threats, fueled by advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, has led to hackers deploying more sophisticated attacks. This evolution makes it imperative for organizations to invest in cutting-edge technologies, including AI-driven threat detection and automated response systems, to actively counter these advanced attacks.

Another pressing challenge is the expanding regulatory landscape. As global governments introduce stricter data protection laws, enterprises must ensure their security measures are compliant. A DSP, with its implementation of the necessary controls for regulatory adherence, plays a critical role in achieving this goal.

Lastly, the rise of cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) present new security hurdles that demand solutions capable of securing data across diverse environments, from cloud storage to IoT devices, ensuring comprehensive protection in an increasingly connected world.

Solving the Data Security Puzzle: Taking a Proactive Approach

Adopting a holistic approach to data security is paramount in today’s digital landscape. A DSP assists your business in creating a resilient data management framework that addresses current threats and adapts to future challenges. This innovative strategy enhances risk management, ensures regulatory compliance, and provides a more robust defense against evolving cyber threats. In short, a DSP empowers your organization to safeguard its valuable data with confidence and precision.

Velotix can be your essential partner in this data journey, fortifying your company’s defenses with advanced, automated data privacy solutions that bolster security and streamline data management processes, allowing your business to focus on innovation and growth. Its streamlined data discovery process, auto-tagging, and workflow customization ensure sensitive information is accurately identified and appropriately managed, while its automated policy management automatically adapts to your policy catalog’s rules and restrictions. It also provides data access recommendations on access requests for specific users or groups and can draw conclusions from existing permissions.

In short, our data protection tools reduce the risk of data breaches, lower compliance burdens, and safeguard your reputation, enabling you to stay competitive in a data-driven world.

To learn more, contact us today to book a Velotix demo.