PKWARE - Best Governance, Risk & Compliance Solution

Company: PKWARE, Milwaukee, WI
Company Division/Group:PKWARE
Company Description: PKWARE helps organizations eliminate security gaps, manage sensitive data, and meet their data compliance goals. With more than 30 years in data security, our innovative technology and unmatched capabilities allow customers to enforce their data security policies while avoiding user disruption and broken workflows. We also invented the ZIP file, the world’s most widely-used archive format.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Business Technology
Nomination Sub Category: Governance, Risk & Compliance Solution

Nomination Title: PKWARE’s Data Security Platform

The latest update was released on December 29, 2020.

PKWARE’s Data Security Platform removes the guesswork and legwork for customers by eliminating data security gaps, automating the management and protection of sensitive information, and meeting data compliance goals – all with the ability to tailor the solution to the unique needs of any industry. Driven by powerful automation capabilities, the technology monitors and protects sensitive information in files on endpoints, servers and more – to prevent data breaches and comply with a range of regulations specific to location or industry.

Unlike other security solutions, the platform encrypts sensitive data the moment it is created or saved. Once encryption is applied, it stays with the data even when copied or moved to other user devices, file servers, or external systems. Organizations can also use the platform to move, quarantine, redact, or delete sensitive data based on their compliance obligations and security policies. Specifically, for static data masking needs (hiding sensitive information), the solution can irreversibly mask data completely or partially in more than 40 different ways where either realistic or unrealistic looking data are needed, all while maintaining both referential integrity and consistency. For data in motion, the platform offers both dynamic data encryption and masking capabilities. Files that are exported from databases can have element level redaction applied to protect specific data.

What’s more, each organization can create a tailored data protection solution based on their individual industry needs and unique compliance goals or use the platform’s preconfigured policies to streamline implementation. The platform, including PKWARE’s Smartcrypt solution (rebranded to PK Protect as of 3/22), provides a feature-rich framework for meeting a range of requirements including GDPR, PCI DSS Compliance, HIPPA/HITECH, NYCRR 500, TISAX and the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Because compliance is a multi-faceted effort, requiring involvement from multiple departments, vendors and partners, the platform is designed to fit into an organization's overall compliance strategy. This includes the flexibility to take action based on file format, location, contents or user profiles; interoperability among every enterprise operating system; integration with productivity software, reporting systems and existing security technology; and automatically responding to file activity in real-time throughconstant monitoring.

PKWARE’s Data Security Platform solution has been deployed as the enterprise-wide data governance program for Fortune 100 companies and remains in place today, showcasing its effectiveness and scalability. More than 100,000 users worldwide are currently using PKWARE to deploy its data security solutions, including seven of the10 largest financial services companies in the world. And, as part of the platform, Smartcyrpt (to be PK Protect on 3/22), sales grew significantly in 2020, underscoring the continued demand for automated data protection, encryption and compliance for enterprises.

One customer, a global leader in information security, deployed PKWARE’s technology following an acquisition in which they needed to encrypt credit card numbers stored in databases. The company was preparing for a PCI DSS audit of the new business unit’s systems and processes. The platform automatically detected and remediated millions of files containing credit card numbers, and the company achieved a 100% compliance on the audit.

Because of the nature of the security business, customer names cannot be revealed, but included below are some testimonials showcasing PKWARE’s Data Security Platform’s ability to successfully address risk and compliance:

“PKWARE is a user-friendly application; data can be encrypted and secured, and is also FIPS compliant.” – Application Manager, Federal Government

“By providing persistent encryption, a seamless integration with active directory, full visibility into who accesses unstructured sensitive data, and integration at the desktop and application layers, PKWARE has allowed us to protect sensitive data, securely exchange data with our clients, and enforce our security policies.” – IT Director, Fortune 500 Financial Services Company

“PKWARE’s transparent data encryption allows us to operate an IaaS CSP independent encryption solution. This makes the use of cloud even more trustworthy.” – Security Officer, Large Enterprise Financial Services Company

Additionally, according to a recent customer survey, 67% of customers indicated that they increased their data security by up to 50% since implementing PKWARE’s Data Security Platform, and a quarter of respondents increased security as much as 90%. The most common compliance drivers behind the purchase of PKWARE solutionsinclude PCI DSS (41%),HIPAA (31%),and GDPR (26%).