Verdasys, provider of Enterprise Information Protection (EIP) solutions for Global 2000 and mid-sized companies, has announced worldwide delivery of the Verdasys Managed Service for Information Protection (MSIP), the first cloud-based managed service for protecting sensitive data, while enabling secure collaboration in today's mobile business environments.

Targeted at organizations with 1,000 or more employees, MSIP is deployed, configured and administered by Verdasys data security experts through the MSIP Secure Cloud, eliminating the need for substantial investments in infrastructure and specialized staff in order to put into action the type of data security and intellectual property protection previously accessible only by the world's largest companies. With successful service deployments in North America and Europe -- and with showcase customers ranging from an aerospace contractor to a financial services company and an auto industry supplier -- increasing deployments of MSIP among mid-sized businesses indicates a growing need for affordable secure data sharing across a wide variety of industries. Such enterprises, many of them in the mid-market with limited IT resources, have previously been restricted to implementing simplistic, less effective data loss prevention technology or purchasing a managed service that offers only a partial solution for data protection, such as managed firewall, intrusion detection, email filtering and virtual private network.

The new cloud based information protection service is built on Verdasys’ industry leading Digital Guardian platform, leveraging more than a decade of expertise in an all-inclusive data protection and risk management solution, now available as an annual subscription. Verdasys is unique in offering the broadest set of data protection capabilities, including IP and trade secret protection, insider threat management, advanced data risk analysis and policy enforcement, PII/PCI & PHI compliance, advanced cyber defense and management of export control restrictions. The only platform to support Linux, Mac OS Citrix and Windows, Digital Guardian is the global data protection standard for 100,000-seat plus deployments.

According to Scott Glass, Vice President and General Manager, Aerospace & Industrial Equipment, for CDI Corporation in Tempe, AZ, "We needed to quickly and successfully deploy Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to meet critical data sharing requirements for a major aerospace equipment provider. The Verdasys cloud-based MSIP provided a dedicated team of experts to build and manage our entire data protection program from risk analysis through our own custom rule creation and control to successful rollout. We also eliminated months of DLP implementation time and with a managed service we lowered our costs by avoiding investments in our own hardware, software and headcount."

Analysts continue to predict strong growth in the market for managed security services, especially for those aimed at mid-sized businesses where increased compliance requirements and budget constraints are driving the need for more cost effective delivery models, such as cloud-based services. Yet, few cloud services for data security are offered and none that combine IP protection with cyber threat defense and compliance in a single solution. According to Christopher Morales, Senior Analyst, Security at the 451 Group, "Verdasys has identified the real opportunity in cloud security services -- the fully managed software-as-a-service that can protect an organization's IP, guard against cyber attack and meet compliance requirements without the very heavy lifting and high cost traditionally required."

Securing Modern Use Cases via the Cloud

Implementation of Verdasys MSIP begins with a risk assessment, available as a separate service and upgradable to a complete policy management and enforcement solution as part of the Verdasys MSIP. Secure Verdasys Digital Guardian agents are deployed across the enterprise to continuously upload encrypted risk intelligence to Verdasys’ secure hosting facilities, where it is analyzed and fed into a live reporting dashboard. Verdasys experts work with customers to create and deploy solution-specific rules enforced by the agents to control how sensitive data is accessed, stored and used based on unique security and compliance requirements.

"With our managed service approach, customers are seeing up-to-the-minute data risk intelligence, with detail on exactly how data is being used down to the application, file or device type. We can show granular data events such as who moved what files to DropBox or even which users printed what to where and how often," said Verdasys Director of Operations for Managed Services Michael Parrella. "It's the job of the Verdasys MSIP team to show these risks to our customers, work with them to define appropriate data protection policies and then we build and deploy these policies as controls that mitigate the risk of data loss. Controls can include educational prompts, automated encryption or applications and file usage blocking, and this can all be done without purchasing hardware or adding staff."

No sensitive content is transmitted or stored as part of the Verdasys MSIP service. Event details are captured as metadata that can recreate any event with forensic accuracy. Metadata is encrypted, hashed, and digitally signed before being securely transferred to Verdasys’ hosting facilities via Digital Guardian’s FIPS 140-2 certified messaging protocol.

Customers that will benefit from the Verdasys MSIP include:

• Any organization with sensitive customer, corporate or government information, particularly data "in use and in motion" via email, USBs, the Web via DropBox, etc.
• Enterprises that need the same risk and compliance management as the world's most secure organizations
• Companies and agencies where mobile and highly privileged users are essential to business processes and collaboration, particularly those in a secure supply chain or outsourcing environments

Supporting Resources:

For an independent review of Verdasys MSIP, "Verdasys MSIP Hosted Service Brings Data-Loss Prevention to the Cloud," please visit: http://www.eweek.com/security/verdasys-msip-hosted-service-brings-data-loss-prevention-to-the-cloud/

See the Verdasys Managed Service for Information Protection slideshow.

Read the Verdasys blog.

Verdasys MSIP is available in North America, Europe and Japan/APAC regions.

For more information about MSIP, please contact Verdasys at msip@verdasys.com

About Verdasys

Verdasys (http://verdasys.com) provides Enterprise Information Protection solutions and managed services to secure sensitive data and assure the integrity of business processes, enabling midsize and global businesses to successfully compete in collaborative and mobile environments. Digital Guardian, a Leader in Gartner’s 2012 Magic Quadrant for Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention, is a proven technology platform that provides complete, policy-based data lifecycle monitoring, classification, control and forensics on endpoints and servers, virtual machines and enterprise applications, networks, mobile devices and cloud environments. Digital Guardian protects IP and regulated data from compromise by insiders, contractors, partners and targeted cyber attacks. Since 2003, millions of Digital Guardian agents have been deployed to protect critical data for global leaders in financial services, insurance, technology, manufacturing and healthcare industries.