Business Update: Imperva® Introduces Data Privacy Solution to Help Manage Sensitive Data

Imperva, Inc., (@Imperva) the cybersecurity leader whose mission is to help organizations protect their data and all paths to it, introduces a new data privacy solution to help organizations discover, identify and protect personal data in any on-prem, cloud, hybrid and multi-cloud environment.

It has been years since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was first introduced. Over that period, concerns over personal data privacy and security have grown dramatically and individuals worldwide are exercising their rights on how organizations handle their personal data. Today, more than 107 countries have enacted data privacy or protection laws including the right to be forgotten, the right to know what data they have, the right to rectify errors, and the right to port personal data. For organizations that operate in multiple jurisdictions, managing Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR) is a daunting operational challenge. Industry experts estimate that manually processing these requests can cost upwards of $240,000 per million records.

“Despite the adoption of specific data privacy compliance software, many end users still struggle with the manual processes associated with data privacy compliance,” says Ryan O’Leary, IDC Privacy Analyst. “Some of the core processes and foundational tasks of data privacy compliance do not need to be manual, and vendors that are looking to gain share need to focus on enabling clients to easily automate aspects such as data discovery, mapping, DSAR fulfillment.”

Imperva Data Privacy brings Imperva’s expertise in database discovery, data classification, and sensitive data management to ease the challenging task of identifying all the places personal data is stored in an environment, and who and what is accessing it. Imperva Data Privacy is built on the Imperva Sonar platform, making the solution easy to implement and manage, so that companies do not have to hire new teams to stay on top of expanding regulations. With the newly added data privacy solution, the Imperva Sonar Platform can streamline data privacy compliance and protection, as well as minimize the manual processes required to maintain continuous compliance. New features help:

• Simplify and automate the manual process of personal data identification and data classification;
• Expand the scope of DSAR fulfillment across the enterprise to better protect individual privacy rights; and,
• Lower the risk of privacy and noncompliance consequences.

Increasingly, data privacy is required for businesses to operate lawfully across the globe. Regulations and compliance checks are holding organizations financially accountable for the security and privacy of the data within their environment. Fines for violating regulations will continue to create significant risk for businesses that do not prioritize the protection of personal data. Unfortunately, given the speed and pace of business, many organizations do not have a grasp of where that data is stored, how it’s controlled or who has access to it.

There is also the continued threat of data breaches that comprise an organization’s data. A report from Imperva Research Labs finds that personal data is a top target for attackers and accounts for 75% of data stolen in breaches. Further, Imperva researchers find that data leakage attacks are up 74% since the beginning of 2021, underscoring the vulnerability of data and not just the network, servers and applications around it. Recent estimates put the value of the largest breaches in the past 10 years at roughly $1.3 billion dollars.

“A strong security infrastructure is the minimum businesses need to protect customers,” says David Valovcin, Senior Director of Data Security, Imperva. “But that will no longer be enough. Customers, partners, and even the regulators will require more visibility and control. Imperva Data Privacy can help ensure you know where your data is and that it is being safeguarded against the increasing threat vectors we see today. In addition, helping automate some of the manual tasks around finding and managing sensitive data can save organizations time and money.”