Why unified data security is crucial in today’s cloud era

The fragmented ubiquity of data is making the task of security an increasingly complex endeavour. At the upcoming Netskope SASE Summit (taking place on 24th June in Singapore) industry leaders will be discussing why data security demands a unified front, and the relevance of unified data security (UDS). Here is a preview into the topic.

Security, risk, and compliance teams are under increased scrutiny and pressure to build and maintain high standards of security and data protection. Locked in a relentless battle against a growing lineup of sophisticated threat actors, they constantly need to identify and close security gaps that could lead to potential data loss as their systems and workforce evolve. Consumers have raised their expectations about the care with which companies treat their personal information, and regulators have raised the bar and impose punitive fines for data breaches linked to a lack of compliance. 

In this context, data protection is a key business imperative, and organisations are facing a vastly more complex reality than in a pre-cloud, pre-AI era. One that requires a fundamental rethink of the security approach. 

The increasing complexity of data security

Today, data is distributed across a wide array of environments, including cloud platforms (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS), endpoints, email systems, and on-premises data stores. It is estimated that a staggering 60% of customer data hosted by companies now live in the cloud. Additionally, about 90% of corporate data is unstructured (found in documents, PDFs, and images). This makes simply knowing where all data resides, its classification, who has access, and the associated risks a real hurdle, and this incomplete visibility can hinder data breach detection and response. 

SaaS sprawl also adds complexity, and employees or departments often use applications without IT's knowledge, fueling shadow IT and creating data blind spots. The rapid adoption of generative AI is a good illustration of this, with research showing that genAI users in the workplace are still overwhelmingly using personal accounts (72%), and leaking sensitive data such as source code, regulated data, IP or passwords and keys in the process. 

Organisations have traditionally relied on a plethora of separate tools to tackle each new data storage or usage type. But this approach has led to a patchwork of disparate technologies that do not talk to each other or work in unison, creating security stacks that are complex to manage and with high licensing costs. Deploying a myriad of solutions strains IT resources, results in a disjointed response to threats, and paradoxically can make corporate data less secure. Enter unified data security (UDS). 

One platform to find them and secure them all

UDS consolidates data loss prevention (DLP) and data security posture management (DSPM). Because it covers data across multiple states (in use, at rest, in motion) and works to protect all use cases with a single approach, it offers critical advantages. 

Firstly, it creates improved visibility, with a single dashboard allowing security teams to monitor data across their entire network, including on-premises and cloud environments, as well as managed and unmanaged devices. Critically, this dashboard also enables monitoring of data at rest, in use, and in motion. This holistic view eliminates blind spots and offers a comprehensive understanding of data flows and access patterns. 

UDS also ensures a coordinated response to threats. When information about risks is gathered by one component, it's immediately shared across the entire platform, enabling consistent policy enforcement wherever data resides. This helps prevent lateral movement of threats and improves real-time data masking. 

Ultimately, by consolidating multiple tools into a single platform, UDS facilitates improved operational efficiency and cost savings. Centralised policy, centralised analytics, and centralised AI functionality free security teams from reactive "firefighting" to focus on strategic initiatives. Compliance becomes easier because consistent data protection policies across all locations, devices, and applications facilitate the implementation and demonstration of adherence to regulatory requirements.

The Netskope One platform embodies this unified approach, providing a comprehensive platform that combines DSPM and DLP for enhanced visibility, discovery, and data protection across all environments and types of data. A Forrester Total Economic Impact study found that typical Netskope customers achieve an 80% reduction in the risk of a severe data breach resulting from an external attack and a 60% reduction in mean time to resolution (MTTR) when management issues arise. 

If UDS sounds like a relevant model to tackle your organisation's data security challenges, join me at the Netskope SASE Summit in Singapore on June 24, where we will discuss the benefits of UDS in more detail. Other talk tracks include architecting modern security and networking to avoid performance trade-offs, as well as the latest updates on SASE, zero-trust security, and AI-driven data security advancements.