Concentric AI brings Private Scan Manager to Azure

Concentric AI has expanded its data security governance platform with a new Private Scan Manager deployment option for Microsoft Azure, targeting customers that require tight control over how and where sensitive information is processed.

The company said organisations can now run its Semantic Intelligence platform inside their own private Azure cloud environments. It already offers a similar model for Amazon Web Services, which gives customers a choice of private cloud infrastructure for data scanning operations.

Concentric AI is positioning the Azure-based Private Scan Manager for sectors that face strict regulatory requirements around data residency and processing. These include organisations that must keep workloads on-premises or within tightly controlled cloud environments.

Regulated sectors

The new deployment model is aimed at highly regulated industries that handle sensitive or confidential data and face limits on data movement. The company said it addresses customers that need on-premises style control while using Azure infrastructure to run the scanning software.

It cited use cases in healthcare and financial services where data cannot leave on-premises environments for compliance reasons. It also referenced hedge funds, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and telecommunications providers as examples of organisations with similar requirements.

Arthur Hedge, Co-founder and President of security consultancy Castle Ventures Corporation, said the launch comes as some established providers reduce on-premises options.

"At a time when legacy players in the data security space are discontinuing support for on-prem deployments, this capability from Concentric AI is well-timed to meet the needs of a large portion of the market that requires their sensitive data to remain within their own environment," said Arthur Hedge, Co-founder and President of Castle Ventures Corporation.

Government focus

Concentric AI said the Azure deployment is suited to US government agencies and public sector bodies that use Microsoft 365 Government Community Cloud High. Those environments support Controlled Unclassified Information, which comes with prescriptive controls on where data sits and how it is processed.

The firm said the model also appeals to contractors that operate in GCC High and manage regulated data on behalf of federal customers. It presents the product as an option for organisations that want cloud-based tools but face barriers to sending raw data outside their own controlled environments.

With Private Scan Manager for Azure, the company said all raw data scanning and categorisation take place inside the customer's private Azure instance. Customers do not install or run the scanning engine on their own physical servers. They also avoid day-to-day system maintenance and upgrades on in-house hardware.

AI-based governance

Semantic Intelligence is Concentric AI's core data security governance platform. The product discovers and categorises data across multiple locations and formats, then applies security controls based on that understanding.

The company said the platform can analyse structured and unstructured data. It looks at files in cloud repositories and on-premises systems, information in email and file-sharing services, and content that passes through social media and generative AI tools in use across an organisation.

The system uses proprietary artificial intelligence technology that interprets the context of data, rather than relying only on pattern matching, keywords or sample-based techniques. Concentric AI said this approach identifies personal, payment and health-related information, as well as less obvious sensitive assets such as intellectual property and key business documents.

The firm said this results in more accurate data classification and access control policies, both inside its own platform and across customers' broader security tooling. It offers category-aware data loss prevention for email and generative AI applications, alongside risk monitoring and automated remediation for issues such as excessive permissions, risky sharing, misclassified data and anomalous user behaviour.

Customer choice

Dhruv Jhain, VP of Product at Concentric AI, said the company sees continued demand for controlled deployment options, despite a wider industry move toward cloud-only models. "While other vendors are stepping away from on-prem deployments, Concentric AI remains focused on giving our customers choices," said Dhruv Jhain, VP of Product at Concentric AI. "Concentric AI's Private Scan Manager for Azure is important to organizations in highly regulated industries, for example, hedge funds, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, telcos, and so on, because it can help them reap the operational benefits of SaaS and alleviate heavy data processing burdens while at the same time enabling adherence to compliance mandates," said Jhain.

Concentric AI said the Azure deployment option is available as part of the Semantic Intelligence platform from today and will sit alongside its existing AWS-focused Private Scan Manager offering.