Three-quarters of organizations plan to implement DSPM in the next year – a faster rate of adoption than Security Service Edge (SSE), Extended Detection and Response (XDR), and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM).
“Organizations today are under relentless pressure to extract maximum value from their data while driving critical business initiatives – whether it’s deploying AI and IoT solutions, expanding into new markets, or seizing emerging opportunities”
The report underscores the escalating challenges organizations face in discovering, classifying, monitoring, and protecting sensitive data due to it being the fastest growing attack surface. The need for data security has been exacerbated by the explosion of AI within the enterprise environment. Similar to the role GPUs play in providing the underlying infrastructure for AI, data is the foundation of AI large language models (LLMs). This has caused a renewed focus on the need for modern data security solutions from Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) that support the security of data across SaaS, IaaS, DBaaS, and on-premises environments. Hence the excitement around DSPM.The report confirmed that fragmented tools, limited data discovery, and outdated classification methods are amongst the top data security challenges for security teams, given they create security blind spots – leaving critical business data vulnerable. In response, DSPM has emerged as a pivotal security category, rapidly gaining traction as organizations seek more effective solutions.
“Organizations today are under relentless pressure to extract maximum value from their data while driving critical business initiatives – whether it’s deploying AI and IoT solutions, expanding into new markets, or seizing emerging opportunities,” said Lamont Orange, CISO at Cyera. “As a result, the demand for DSPM solutions is skyrocketing. These tools are becoming essential for comprehensive data discovery, classification, and posture, enabling businesses to protect their most sensitive data, and use the data to derive additional business value.”
Key findings from the report include:
- Visibility Gaps Compromise Security: An overwhelming 83% of respondents believe that a lack of visibility into data is weakening the overall security posture of their organizations, underscoring the need for tools that provide comprehensive and real-time visibility into sensitive data across all environments.
- Data Discovery and Classification Deficiencies: A staggering 87% of enterprises find their current data discovery and classification solutions lacking, with only 13% considering them very effective. This critical deficiency in data security practices shows the urgent need for more precise and automated solutions to safeguard sensitive information.
- Challenges in Detecting and Responding to Exposures: More than 60% of organizations do not feel confident in their ability to detect and respond to data security and privacy exposures. This critical gap must be addressed through enhanced monitoring, automated response capabilities, and better alignment between detection tools and security strategies.
- Demand for Core DSPM Features: Real-time data monitoring (43%), data discovery (38%), and data classification (35%) are seen as the core features that enterprises should prioritize in any DSPM proof of value engagement. These features are essential for providing the visibility and control needed to secure sensitive data effectively, as real-time monitoring and integration with discovery and classification have been historically lacking.
“The increased importance of data to the organization’s mission is forcing security teams to rethink their security strategies to be more data-centric,” Orange said. “DSPM gives organizations the awareness of their data that they need to make critical security decisions without impacting the regular flow of business.”
