Symantec Simplifies the Detection and Protection of Enterprises’ Most Valuable Information
New Vector Machine Learning technology in Symantec Data Loss Prevention 11 to address increasing threats to intellectual
property
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it will offer Symantec Data Loss Prevention 11, which will focus on simplifying the detection and protection of enterprises’ most valuable information – their intellectual property. This major new release of Symantec’s
market-leading data security suite plans to feature Vector Machine Learning, the market’s first and only machine
learning technology, designed to simplify the detection of hard-to-find intellectual property. Symantec Data Loss
Prevention 11 is also expected to make the remediation process more efficient and effective with new Data Insight
enhancements and to include additional security measures at the endpoint.
More Data, More Risk
Unstructured data is growing at a rate of more than 60 percent[1] per year and is becoming increasingly difficult to
manage and protect. An organisation’s most valuable information – its intellectual property – is often buried within a
growing volume of unstructured documents, many of which are not sensitive. Unstructured data stores are also typically
less secure than other data repositories, making them more vulnerable to data loss from both internal and external
threats. As evidenced by targeted attacks such as Hydraq and other high profile losses of confidential documents,
intellectual property is more vulnerable than ever before.
Easier to Identify with Vector Machine Learning
An organisation needs to identify its sensitive documents before it can take steps to protect them. Data loss prevention
has historically relied on two categories of detection technology: fingerprinting and describing the information.
Fingerprinting requires collecting all the documents that need to be protected and assigning unique fingerprints to each
file. The alternative, describing the data, involves the creation of regular expressions and keyword lists to identify
sensitive documents. Fingerprinting can be challenging for organisations with widely dispersed data, and policies to
describe data can be both time consuming to create and less accurate than fingerprinting.
Vector Machine Learning is a new innovation from Symantec which is designed to overcome the limitations of current
detection technologies. Vector Machine Learning can be trained using sample documents to recognise the defining
characteristics and identify the subtle differences between sensitive and non-sensitive data. This will eliminate the
need to create keyword-based policies or try to fingerprint new documents as they are created. Vector Machine Learning
is designed to allow a sample set of documents to be sufficient to create an accurate policy, and for its accuracy to be
improved over time as additional positive and negative samples are fed back into the system.
Easier to Fix with Data Insight Enhancements
Symantec Data Loss Prevention 11 plans to include enhancements to Symantec Data Insight which will streamline the
remediation process by identifying the locations where data is at the greatest risk and automatically notifying the
associated data owners. The new Risk Scoring feature will prioritise folders for remediation based on the amount and
sensitivity of data they contain as well as the folder’s accessibility. The new Data Owner Remediation capability will
help facilitate data security awareness and protection by automatically sending email alerts to owners of the data at
risk in shared storage, thereby increasing the effectiveness of an organisation’s data protection initiatives.
Added Protection at the Endpoint
Symantec Data Loss Prevention 11 is expected to deliver multiple endpoint enhancements, including features designed to
give organisations the flexibility to allow the use of a wider range of applications and storage devices while
maintaining a strong data security posture. Application File Access Control is designed to ensure user-driven
applications such as iTunes, Skype and WebEx can be used by employees without exposing sensitive data. The Trusted
Devices feature will enable the use of a wide range of storage devices while assuring that sensitive data can be copied
only to approved devices, such as devices issued and tracked by the company. Also new in this release is Endpoint
FlexResponse, which is designed to make it easier for customers to extend data protection at the endpoint by integrating
other Symantec and third party solutions, such as encryption and Enterprise Rights Management (ERM).
Supporting Quotes
“Continental Airlines is particularly interested in Risk Scoring and Data Owner Remediation features of Symantec Data
Loss Prevention 11 – with them, we expect to reduce the time it takes to locate and secure our confidential data. We
have found that our ability to engage users in protecting their sensitive data is key to success, and this solution can
help us with this objective,” said Cynthia Soares, Senior Manager, Information Security, Continental Airlines. “The
ability to automatically monitor the status and health of our sensitive information stores will translate into
significant cost benefits.”
“Symantec’s Vector Machine Learning technology will anticipate newly created sensitive data based on machine learning
capabilities and dramatically improves an organisation’s ability to protect unstructured data,” said Jon Oltsik,
principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “This is designed to enable organisations to more easily define, detect,
and ultimately protect their intellectual property.”
“Symantec Data Loss Prevention 11 is focused on helping Information Security professionals to more efficiently and
effectively protect the organisation’s most sensitive information,” said Aaron Aubrecht, senior director, product
management, Symantec Corporation. “We’ve heard from our customers that more accurate detection of intellectual property
and risk-based prioritisation of their actions are fundamental elements of an effective information protection program.
Our Vector Machine Learning technology and Data Insight enhancements directly address those needs.”
ENDS