The initial product offering from nexTier Networks, their Data Loss Prevention (DLP) suite leverages at its core semantic-based technology that is able to automatically and in real-time classify enterprise information based on IT-defined parameters. The Server component of the product is offered as software (Linux) or in an appliance format, and is deployed within the network, between users and information sources. The agent component (Windows) provides protection for endpoint machines (including disconnected ones), with the ability to prevent the transfer of sensitive data to external media; while the server component provides the ability to monitor multiple applications and protocols across the network, including Exchange, SMTP, IM, HTTP, FTP, Telnet, SMS, IMS, Mail, SIP, RPC, RMI, and Citrix. The Server component can be deployed on a single box or scaled to multiple boxes, with its individual modules (Crawler, Indexer/DB, Policy Engine, Classification Engine, Protocol Engine, Monitoring/Reporting Engine, and Workflow Engine) spread across separate servers as necessary for performance.

Key technologies in the platform focus on the automation or minimization of human intervention in the discovery, analysis, and identification processes. The product's crawler is able to examine NAS, database, file systems, and desktops for information (with over 48 content format decoders), extracting a "Semantic DNA Sequence" of less than 1,000 bytes that allows the platform to index both the origination and the derived security value of the discovered data. According to the vendor, this DNA signature enables the identification of the data even if the information is modified or repurposed.

Unstructured information discovered by the platform is automatically classified via the Classification Engine based on IT-defined parameters, with the Policy Engine able to automatically apply security policies based on the content and context of the data. Key to this process are the vendor's "3-Dimensional Analysis & Correlation algorithms," which seek to reduce false-positives by placing the "agents" (people or machines), "operations," (E-mail, copy, print, FTP, etc.), and "information," (the actual data itself) into context; applying security policies in real-time based on the actual usage of that data.

Other features of the platform include full keyword & phrase matching for known data types; the ability to utilize AAA, RADIUS, LDAP and A/D stores to discover organizational structure (for agent identification, as above); violation logging and user prompting; and pre-defined templates for compliance including SOX, GLB, SB-1386, HIPAA.

nexTier DLP is available now, with Enterprise deployments starting at $50,000. Visit the nexTier Networks Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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