For Subscribers

This Cybersecurity App Handles Your Company's Internal Weaknesses DataGravity offers a unique solution to a common problem.

By Marty Jerome

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Chinese industrial spies, credit-card cyber bandits, poaching competitors -- data theft gets worse every year. Yet the most overlooked security leak, experts say, is the inside job. And it's not only from bad people. The biggest threats can be "caused by human error, which is the most common case," says Paula Long, CEO of Nashua, N.H.-based DataGravity, which specializes in storage solutions to help thwart cybercrime.

Most cybersecurity products identify anomalous behavior on a computer network and respond to attacks in real time; DataGravity secures data at the point of storage. Files are tagged and tracked as soon as they're created, so the who, what, when and where of the documents can be monitored and audited. The system scans every file for sensitive elements such as credit card and Social Security numbers. When it finds something, it alerts the system administrator, who can limit access or delete the vulnerable file entirely.

"Security violations sometimes take the form of someone accessing the storage under stolen or false credentials," Long says. "Our product identifies whose credentials they are masquerading under, what data they accessed and from where they entered the array."

Mid-market organizations with 50 to 2,000 employees stand to benefit most, according to DataGravity president John Joseph, especially those with vast amounts of unstructured, human-generated data. But the service also works for larger enterprises.

Jason Topp, a senior systems administrator at Providence College in Rhode Island, is pleased with the security and the analytics DataGravity provides. "We have been able to get a much more in-depth look at not only what our data contains, but also what happens to that data," says Topp. "We see it all, and that makes me happy. A happy information security officer is worth a lot."

How much? DataGravity's secure storage runs $45,000 to $95,000. That buys firmware, upgrades and an army of support. Yes, it's pricey, but Joseph contrasts it to the average $295,000 bill to set up a storage array, security tools, recovery and backup for a midsize enterprise. "Plus," he points out, "according to research by IBM, the estimated cost to fix a data breach is $3.8 million."

DataGravity grabbed a healthy chunk of the $1.77 billion poured into data-security startups last year -- to the tune of $92 million -- with backers including Andreessen Horowitz. "Data security is a huge issue," says Andreessen Horowitz partner Peter Levine. "We expect this to become a must-have technology in all future storage environments."

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

AI Is Going to 'Replace Everybody' in Several Fields, According to the 'Godfather of AI.' Here's Who He Says Should Be 'Terrified.'

Geoffrey Hinton, called the "Godfather of AI" due to his pioneering work on AI, says some fields face a heavier risk of replacement due to automation.

Growing a Business

Selling as a Founder Is Brutal — It Was Also the Reason We Reached $400M in Revenue

Selling is one of the hardest parts of building a startup, but arguably the most important. This piece shares hard-won, tactical lessons from my early days, offering a blueprint for founders navigating the messy reality of doing sales with no team, no leads and no playbook.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Meta Is Reportedly Planning to Release New AI Smart Glasses With Oakley and Prada

The Oakley Meta AI glasses are expected to cost more than the Ray-Ban Metas.

Living

Learn From Top Nonfiction Books Without Reading Them All With This App

Get caught up with 15-minute summaries of nonfiction best-sellers with Headway Premium.

Taxes

Why New Tax Rules Could Be a Game Changer for Your Business

With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act making its way through Congress, entrepreneurs need to be ready for significant tax policy changes.