Gartner is a leading research and advisory firm that offers unparalleled insight into the cybersecurity market. When they speak, we should listen. Gartner recently released a report titled “Voice of the Customer for Data Security Posture Management” that consolidates reviews from Gartner Peer Insights so IT teams can make better-informed purchase decisions.
The report, however, does more than that. It provides insight into how data security posture management (DSPM) solutions are shaping the future of data security and privacy strategies. So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
What is Data Security Posture Management?
DSPM is a data security solution for the cloud era. It provides comprehensive visibility into an organization’s cloud environment, focusing on where sensitive information resides, who has access to it, and how it’s used. Businesses use DSPM to assess risks, identify vulnerabilities, implement necessary security measures, and continuously monitor the security of data. These technologies are crucial to discovering unused or unknown data repositories that cybercriminals could exploit.
Understanding the Gartner DSPM Report
As noted, the Gartner DSPM report primarily comprises Peer Insights data, consolidating user reviews and experiences from across industries. This crowdsourced feedback is particularly valuable for security leaders and decision-makers looking to evaluate DSPM solutions based on real-world performance. The report synthesizes feedback from 379 reviews over an 18-month period, providing insights into which vendors offer the most robust capabilities.
This peer-driven data is essential for organizations as it tells potential buyers which vendors lead the DSPM market, how satisfied users are, how willing they would be to recommend a solution and a review of their overall experience with the DSPM solution. These insights help organizations align their data security strategy with tools that meet both technical and operational needs.
The report assesses, according to Gartner Peer Insights, how different DSPM vendors perform across two axes – User Interest and Adoption and Overall Experience – and divides vendors into four distinct quadrants:
- Vendors in the top-right quadrant are recognized as Customers’ Choice solutions, having met or exceeded the market average in both adoption and overall user experience. These solutions are recommended for businesses looking for reliable and well-supported DSPM tools.
- Vendors in the lower-right quadrant demonstrate solid user interest but fall short on overall user experience. While they may be suitable for adoption, they may need further enhancements to meet the full spectrum of user expectations.
- Solutions in the upper-left quadrant boast strong overall experiences but may have limited adoption due to market factors, including pricing, integration complexity, or niche features.
- The lower-left quadrant houses the “Aspiring” vendors, whose solutions are still gaining traction and have room to grow both in terms of market share and user satisfaction.
You can view the full report here to find out how the assessed vendors—Cyera, Symmetry Systems, Securiti, Varonis, Palo Alto Networks (Dig Security), Rubrik (Laminar), and OneTrust—performed.
DSPM and the Future of Data Security and Privacy Strategies
The fact that Gartner has produced this report and its insights is proof of the rapid evolution of the DSPM market. As cloud adoption continues to rise, IT environments grow increasingly complex, and regulations become more stringent, we’re only likely to see the market mature further.
Increasing cloud adoption is the key driver for DSPM. Modern organizations typically have complex cloud environments, storing data across various cloud service providers (CSPs). This trend has resulted in data ending up in places not directly tied to business operations, resulting in overlooked and unprotected infrastructures.
Sometimes, data spreads to unknown CSP locations without security teams realizing it. For example, when administrators create new infrastructure or data, IT teams generate backups, or test engineers produce data subsets, they neglect to inform security teams, leaving data open for exploitation.
Traditional data security platforms (DLP) – like data loss prevention and endpoint protection – struggle to discover these hidden or unidentified data repositories, also known as shadow data, because they are siloed, failing to integrate or share policies, leaving gaps and inconsistencies in data protection. DSPM, however, uncovers this shadow data. As such, these solutions are increasingly indispensable for organizations seeking to secure their cloud environments and comply with regulatory standards such as GDPR and the CCPA.
Conclusion
Overall, the Gartner DSPM tells us that DSPM is the future of data security and privacy strategies. The growing market represents an increasing need for organizations to find data and data repositories lost in increasingly complex cloud environments. If your security team struggles to find shadow data (and they probably do), it might be time to start shopping for a DSPM solution. Check out the Gartner report for vendor recommendations.
Josh is a Content writer at Bora. He graduated with a degree in Journalism in 2021 and has a background in cybersecurity PR. He’s written on a wide range of topics, from AI to Zero Trust, and is particularly interested in the impacts of cybersecurity on the wider economy.