Why The Security Industry Needs The Channel To Spark Changes

Q&A with Perry Dickau, director of product management at DataGravity

Q: In recent years, we’ve seen an industry-wide attempt to improve data security. What’s driving this effort?

Dickau: No one is safe from a breach, and we all know it far too well. The high-profile breaches at major corporations such as Target and Sony put urgent pressure on companies to find solutions that get the security job done right. For a long time, the IT status quo was a reactionary approach to data protection and threat management — building taller walls and digging deeper moats to secure the data perimeter without fully analyzing the sensitivity of its contents. Now, we know security tools of the past aren’t working, and the only option to protect your business has become a race against the clock to ensure data is protected before an attack hits.

Q: How can channel professionals help their clients get proactive about security changes?

Dickau: Channel pros need to educate organizations about the absolute need of data awareness as a core element to a holistic security program. Most companies have no visibility into what’s actually in their data, and it’s a fundamental problem plaguing the industry: how can they protect what they don’t know they have? This problem exists across the entire lifecycle of content as well: from when it’s first created and stored, to how it’s accessed, moved, and managed across servers and networks, to how it’s shared both inside and outside of the organization. Companies are vulnerable at each one of these points, and more. Foundationally, organizations must become data-aware so they can recognize and protect what is most valuable.  Data security needs to be everywhere and touching every person within an organization. 

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