Gartner Evaluates Data Loss Prevention Tools in Latest Magic Quadrant

Posted by skyhighnetworks on May 12th, 2014

Industry analyst firm recently published its latest Magic Quadrant for Data Loss Prevention, providing guidance to corporate customers on software vendors. As part of the quadrant, Data Loss Prevention Tools are mapped to a model that rates them as leaders, visionaries, challengers, and niche players.


Symantec, EMC, Websense, and McAfee were listed in the leaders quadrant again in this year’s report. Between these four vendors, they capture about 65% of the installed market for data loss prevention tools. Customers evaluating solutions have many options to consider as the field also includes many new and emerging players, including DLP-lite and channel DLP integrated with email encryption solutions.


Gartner estimates the market for data loss prevention tools grew to $670 million in 2013, up from just $300 million in 2010 just three years ago. Content-aware DLP inspects content such as files, emails, and other data and applies regulatory and compliance policies for acceptable use. If a piece of protected information is discovered in an email, for instance, a DLP solution can notify the user of the error.


When used to its full extend, DLP is not just a transparent security tool invisible to the end user like a firewall. When users violate a DLP, they are notified and educated about the issue so they can correct future behavior to align with corporate policies. This represents a significant shift for many organizations since users may not react positively to having emails blocked because a compliance violation.


As more content migrates to the cloud, companies are also looking to extend their existing DLP policies and tools to data stored on cloud services. Another challenge for DLP at the endpoint is the proliferation of mobile devices with fragmented OS ecosystems such as Google’s Android which has numerous distinct operating system flavors in production across millions of smartphones made by different manufacturers.

Author:
Skyhigh Networks, the cloud access security company, enables companies to embrace Cloud Services with appropriate levels of security, compliance, and governance while lowering overall risk and cost. With customers in financial services, Data Loss Prevention Tools, healthcare, high technology, media, manufacturing, and legal verticals, the company was a finalist for the RSA Conference 2013 Most Innovative Company award and was recently named a "Cool Vendor" by Gartner, Inc. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Skyhigh Networks is led by an experienced team and is venture-backed by Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit us at http://www.skyhighnetworks.com/cloud-data-loss-prevention/ or follow us on Twitter @skyhighnetworks.