Unstructured data has always been the black sheep of the enterprise data security world. Securing access to applications and the data housed there has always been the priority, but that may be changing.
Two recent, high-profile events suggest unstructured data may be moving from the cheap seats to the orchestra section soon. First, SailPoint, a leading IAM vendor, acquired Whitebox in July, specifically to extend their IAM solution to govern access to unstructured data. Second, the recently-discovered press release clearing houses hack (including PRNewswire, for example) illustrated the enormous value that can be stored in unstructured data, like an earnings press release prior to its announcement. In that episode, hackers teamed with corrupt stock traders to generated tens of millions of dollars in insider trade profits, exploiting information stolen from earnings press releases – unstructured data – that hadn’t been released publicly. A large portion of an enterprise’s sensitive data resides in its file shares, and companies just may be starting to appreciate that.
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