Symantec Corp. announced that an updated version of Vontu Data Loss Prevention is now available featuring enhanced management and support of native SQL database scanning. Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions help organizations prevent the loss of confidential or proprietary information wherever it is stored or being used. The Vontu Data Loss Prevention suite enables businesses to find and protect exposed confidential data across the entire enterprise. Continuing its track record of innovation, this is the second DLP product release since Symantec’s acquisition of Vontu in December 2007.

With the Vontu DLP update, businesses can better manage SQL database scans when performing content discovery. With native support for SQL databases, such as Oracle, SQLServer or DB2, companies can now perform systematic enterprise-scale audits of thousands of databases as part of their data loss prevention strategy to quickly inventory databases as part of an audit or locate sensitive data which may have been improperly stored.

Companies often use data loss prevention technology on their data at rest to perform data clean-up projects or inventory critical information. Sharp HealthCare, for example, utilized Vontu Network Discover from Symantec to quickly create an inventory of confidential data files residing on servers and in databases, locate the data owners to work with them on appropriate controls and destroy unused and unnecessary confidential data. By doing so, Sharp HealthCare was able to mitigate the risk of accidental or malicious activity as well as establish ongoing controls and reporting to ensure future regulatory compliance with legislation such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“The proliferation of sensitive data across thousands of storage locations across an enterprise is one of the root causes of the data loss problem,” said Starla Rivers, information security architect at Sharp HealthCare. “Our databases literally hold millions of patient and employee names with associated private data so we constantly assess our infrastructure to ensure that this data is properly protected.”

Market Growth for Storage DLP Solutions
An April report from Gartner on growth trends in the data loss prevention market predicts that “data discovery will be the single fastest-growing segment of the CMF/DLP space in 2008 and beyond.” Symantec has observed this trend in action with more than 100 customers currently deploying Vontu Network Discover to identify sensitive data at rest and protect it.

“Approximately two-thirds of new customers purchase our data-at-rest products as part of their initial DLP investment, and we have led the DLP market in the number of data-at-rest deployments since we first shipped our solution in September of 2005,” said Steve Roop, senior director of marketing for data loss prevention solutions at Symantec. “Our clients clearly recognize the need for a mature, full-featured solution to discover sensitive content as part of a comprehensive strategy to prevent data loss.”

Storage DLP solutions help companies address the challenges of compliance audits, investigations, data clean-up and data classification. With enhanced deep scanning support for SQL databases, Symantec extends its lead with the industry's most comprehensive coverage of enterprise data repositories. Vontu DLP supports native scanning of all six classes of content repositories-- including file servers, distributed laptops and desktops, databases, document and records management systems (such as Documentum and SharePoint), email repositories, and Web sites (including intranets and extranets).

For optimal scalability, Vontu DLP delivers three discovery approaches. Agent-based scanning provides benefits when scanning large number of endpoints to enable simultaneous discovery on thousands of machines. Vontu DLP server agents perform distributed scanning of data repositories across remote regional offices and centralized scanning to investigate massive, centralized repositories with millions of documents or database records.

In a recent white paper DLP Content Discovery: Best Practices for Stored Data Discovery and Protection, by Rich Mogull, Securosis, Mogull reiterates the importance of content discovery as part of a full data loss prevention plan. According to Mogull, “Content discovery is likely more effective at reducing enterprise risks than network monitoring alone and is one reason organizations should consider full DLP suites over single-channel products.”

Vontu Data Loss Prevention Enhancements
Vontu Data Loss Prevention now supports native SQL database scanning that can be fully controlled from within the Vontu Enforce Platform with integrated features to manage the scheduling, throttling and filtering of SQL database scans. In addition, Vontu’s Endpoint DLP solution has enhanced operating system coverage for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista, and can perform parallel scanning of thousands of systems by leveraging the Vontu Endpoint DLP agent architecture.