Key Benefits of Implementing DSPM

In today’s data-driven world, keeping track of sensitive information—where it resides, how it’s accessed, and who’s handling it—has become more complex than ever. According to Gartner, 60% of organizations will experience a major data breach by 2025 due to inadequate data security measures. 

This is where Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) comes into play. DSPM solutions are designed to bring clarity and control to your data landscape, helping organizations proactively address security risks and reduce the likelihood of costly breaches. Here’s why integrating DSPM into your organization’s security strategy is a game-changer.

1. Comprehensive Data Visibility and Classification

A DSPM solution offers organizations complete visibility over their data, whether stored on-premises, in the cloud, or across hybrid environments. In a dynamic cloud environment, where  different teams create resources daily, the ability to detect new resources as they are created and scan them automatically, provides continuous monitoring.  This enables companies to maintain a real-time understanding of where sensitive data resides and how it is being used

According to The 2024 DSPM Adoption Report, 83% of organizations acknowledge that insufficient visibility into their data weakens their overall security posture. DSPM bridges these visibility gaps by automating the discovery of sensitive data and ensuring continuous monitoring. Unlike traditional security tools, DSPM offers real-time insights, enabling organizations to anticipate and address threats proactively.

In addition to the visibility challenge, data classification tools traditionally used by enterprises are often outdated, manual, and prone to error, slowing down processes and leaving sensitive information exposed. According to the DSPM adoption report, only 13% of organizations feel confident that their data classification tools are effective. DSPM addresses this problem by automating the classification process, utilizing AI-driven algorithms that can analyze large volumes of data quickly and accurately. This automation reduces the risk of human error, minimizes false positives, and ensures sensitive data is classified appropriately based on its level of risk.

Instant data visibility and classification

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2. Streamlined Compliance and Reporting

DSPM plays a crucial role in simplifying compliance with regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS, CCPA, and HIPAA, all of which impose stringent controls over sensitive data. These frameworks govern a wide array of data, from personal and financial information under GDPR and PCI DSS to healthcare records under HIPAA. By automating the discovery, classification, and monitoring of data, DSPM empowers businesses to efficiently track sensitive information, enforce strict access controls, and meet regulatory obligations with minimal manual intervention. For example, GDPR mandates that organizations report data breaches within 72 hours, starting from the moment the organization is aware of the breach. The report should provide an approximate number of affected individuals and records, and the organization must also inform the affected individuals without undue delay - a requirement that DSPM’s real-time monitoring and alert capabilities make manageable.

As regulatory focus intensifies, the consequences of non-compliance have become more severe. As of March 1, 2024, there have been 2,086 GDPR violation fines, a sharp increase of 510 from 2023, with total fines amounting to EUR 4.48 billion—an increase of EUR 1.71 billion year over year. The average fine now exceeds EUR 2 million. In this environment, DSPM becomes indispensable by automatically identifying regulated data, mapping it to the relevant compliance frameworks, and pinpointing the region where the data resides. This ensures that organizations remain aligned with both local and global data protection laws, mitigating the risks of regulatory breaches and hefty fines.

3. Driving Growth and Innovation

Data analysis has grown exponentially, becoming a cornerstone for driving business innovation, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage. As companies generate vast amounts of data from various sources, the ability to analyze this data has become critical to staying ahead. According to Gartner, nearly 90% of large enterprises will have a Chief Data Officer (CDO) by 2025, highlighting the growing importance of data leadership in enterprise strategies. Data-driven insights are no longer a competitive edge but a necessity for companies to thrive in today’s market. 

Over the last few years, the integration of advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning tools has transformed how companies approach decision-making. McKinsey reports that data-driven organizations are significantly more likely to achieve business goals, with analytics contributing to enhanced customer acquisition, improved product offerings, and streamlined operations. For instance, in industries like financial services, companies use data analysis to detect fraud more effectively, while manufacturers leverage predictive analytics to reduce downtime and optimize production.

Data-driven insights are also enabling these enterprises to enhance personalization at scale, as seen in the retail sector, where real-time customer data allows for more targeted marketing and improved customer experience. By tapping into their vast data reserves, companies can quickly identify emerging trends, optimize business processes, and make faster, more informed decisions. As a result, data analysis is not only growing in scale but also in its strategic importance for driving profitability and innovation in the market.

The challenge, however, is managing and accessing this data efficiently, especially given the increased focus on privacy and security. A DSPM solution plays a crucial role in this environment, as it allows businesses to quickly distinguish non-sensitive data from restricted data, speeding up access for data analysts. This capability is essential as faster access to data translates into quicker insights and faster time to market, ultimately driving better business outcomes. 

4. Cost Efficiency and Operational Optimization

As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, the disparity between available resources and the scale of risks widens. Moreover, According to a 2023 Flexera State of the Cloud Report, enterprises are now spending an average of 30% of their IT budgets on cloud services, reflecting a significant shift in resource allocation. This report also notes that 82% of organizations have faced challenges with cloud cost management, often exceeding their initial budgets due to unexpected usage and complexity. As cloud environments grow more intricate, effective cost management strategies become essential for optimizing spend and ensuring that investments align with organizational goals.

Focus Security Efforts

DSPM offers a strategic advantage in cost reduction by enabling security teams to focus their efforts on resources that house sensitive data, rather than expending resources on assets that do not contain critical information. By leveraging DSPM, organizations can precisely identify and prioritize high-risk areas, directing their security personnel towards the most valuable and vulnerable assets. This targeted approach not only enhances the effectiveness of security measures but also optimizes resource allocation, leading to significant cost savings. With DSPM, security teams can avoid the inefficiencies of a broad, generalized approach and instead concentrate their efforts where they will have the greatest impact, thereby reducing overall security expenditure and improving organizational efficiency.

Reduce cloud costs

DSPM can significantly reduce cloud costs by identifying and addressing ghost datastores—databases or data repositories that have been forgotten or are no longer in use but still incur storage costs. These ghost datastores often accumulate over time in large, complex cloud environments, especially when teams spin up temporary storage for projects or backups and fail to decommission them afterward. In addition to being a financial drain, these ghost datastores can contain sensitive data that may not be properly secured, increasing the risk of a data breach. DSPM tools can automatically scan for and detect these orphaned data assets, analyze the sensitivity of the data they hold, and either retire them safely or bring them under governance. By eliminating these hidden costs and reducing unnecessary storage use, organizations can optimize their cloud spending while improving data security.

5. Turning Data Security Policies into Action

For many organizations, data security policies have long been static, written documents outlining how data should be accessed, handled, and protected. These policies, while essential, often rely on manual processes for monitoring and enforcement, leaving room for human error and inconsistencies. In large enterprises with vast data environments, ensuring every policy is followed precisely can be an overwhelming challenge. As a result, even well-intentioned guidelines can be overlooked, leading to security gaps that leave sensitive data vulnerable.

A DSPM solution changes this approach by providing visibility into data security policies across an organization. Instead of relying solely on manual oversight, DSPM actively monitors data environments and identifies potential gaps in policy adherence. Whether it’s monitoring who can access certain datasets, ensuring encryption of data at rest, or verifying compliance with regulatory requirements, DSPM highlights areas where policies need attention. It empowers security teams and IT staff with actionable insights, reducing the burden of manual monitoring and minimizing the risk of human error or overlooked procedures. Policies that previously existed only as guidelines are now mapped and tracked across the systems that manage and protect organizational data.

In addition to offering detailed insights, DSPM provides real-time visibility into how well these policies are being followed. Security teams, compliance officers, and data stewards can quickly see where policies are being violated or not fully implemented, allowing them to address potential issues proactively. DSPM’s continuous monitoring ensures that organizations no longer have to rely solely on periodic audits or manual reviews to understand their compliance posture. Instead, they have a system that identifies deviations and supports teams in making data protection policies an integral part of their daily operations, even if enforcement requires manual intervention.

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