Vormetric Transparent Encryption: Product overview

Expert Ed Tittel takes a look at Vormetric Transparent Encryption, a component of Vormetric's Data Security Platform that encrypts data and does access control for that data.

Vormetric specializes in enterprise encryption and key management to protect databases in physical, virtual and cloud environments.

Vormetric's Data Security Platform includes encryption, key management, vault and toolkit products, all administered through the Vormetric Data Security Manager (DSM). Vormetric's Transparent Encryption component is an agent that runs at the file system level or volume level on a server to encrypt data at rest as well as to access control, and collect security logs.

Product features

Vormetric differentiates itself from the competition by offering transparent encryption, granular access controls, security intelligence and broad cloud platform support all in one product. The company claims to be able to encrypt data stored in all types of databases -- structured or unstructured -- at the file and folder levels, without requiring changes to the databases or applications that interact with them.

The Vormetric Transparent Encryption software agent runs on servers or virtual machines to control access to files, folders and volumes, and to report activity to DSM. Agents apply the policies that are set in the DSM to control user actions, such as restricting which users can retrieve an encryption key and for what purposes. The DSM is a physical or virtual appliance, and provides a Web-based user interface for managing the platform. Administrators use the DSM to monitor databases and systems, view current status, manage encryption keys and control access privileges.

The Vormetric platform helps organizations meet compliance goals for PCI DSS 3.0, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act / Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, NIST 800-53, Federal Information Security Management Act and PIPA, as well as state and local data residency and privacy requirements. To enforce separation of duties required by many regulations, key and policy management responsibilities can be assigned to more than one security administrator so no one person has complete control of the system.

The two-tiered architecture of the Vormetric platform (DSM and agents) allows administrators to centrally manage encryption of data locally and in remote sites, including big data and cloud environments.

Vormetric platform users can manage other encryption product keys, such as IBM Guardium Data Encryption, Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and Microsoft SQL Server TDE, in addition to Vormetric keys. The DSM is also compatible with a variety of security information and event management systems.

Note: Vormetric provides an interactive Data Security Platform demo on its website. Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers can test-drive Vormetric Transparent Encryption for AWS for free for 30 days.

Vormetric partnered with McAfee to offer an integrated solution of each company's database security products. It includes McAfee Database Activity Monitoring, Vulnerability Manager for Databases, and Virtual Patching for Databases, as well as Vormetric Data Security Manager, Transparent Encryption and Application Encryption.

Pricing and licensing

Prospective customers must contact a Vormetric sales representative for pricing and licensing information on Vormetric Transparent Encryption and the Vormetric platform.

Support

Vormetric technical support engineers can be contacted by phone, email or through the online Self Service Support Portal.

The company offers Standard and Premium support. Standard support is available during business hours and includes standard replacement of faulty hardware. Premium support is available 24x7x365 and includes expedited pro-active replacement of faulty hardware. Software updates are free with either plan.

Next Steps

Part one of this series examines the basics of database security in the enterprise

Part two of this series looks at enterprise deployment scenarios for database security tools

Part three of this series offers nine steps for purchasing database security software

Part four of this series compares the top database security tools in the industry

Dig Deeper on Data security and privacy

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