IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Oracle Advanced Security comparison

"Database logging and audit functions are the most valuable features."

"It allows us to put in controls to make sure that only the right persons access the proper records in the database."

"IBM Guardium Data Protection has better integration options than most of the leading competitors on the market, and the price is always better."

"It has automated a bunch of manual tasks, giving us insights into activities that we would not otherwise be able to capture."

"It supports our audit compliance."

"It does not require our involvement to run it. It runs in the background and the people that do the reporting do so. The reports go to the directors who are in charge of the various data areas. It's pretty clean. Clearly there is some setup, but after you get it set up it just goes."

"The most valuable feature for me, in my role as systems DBA, is the expediting of internal and external audits."

"Satisfies audit requests, to give us an idea if anybody is accessing our privileged user IDs without our knowledge."

"The features that are the most used by the customers and partners are, at the moment, for GDPR, so obviously data encryption and data reduction. Our customers also like the partitioning option."

"The most valuable feature is the data encryption option for columns and tables."

"An area for improvement would be the user interface - currently, it takes around two to three months to become comfortable using it."

"Guardium Data Protection is far better in terms of external integration. But in terms of firewall features, like when you're blocking activities, it's as if Oracle AVDF simply has superior features. This is just from third-party observations, but the users of Oracle AVDF are saying that when it comes to the firewall and protection functionality, they're much more inclined to AVDF."

"The ability for Central Managers to talk to one another could be improved. I have 26 Central Managers and 26 silos which are independent."

"The solution could be improved for NoSQL databases."

"One of the limitations that everyone who uses Guardium knows is its ability for back-end reporting. The ability to collect it sometimes is easier than the ability to retrieve it, use it, or give a good representation of it for incidence response or questions which come from the different people who want to use the data."

"The price of this solution is quite high for smaller organizations, so they should release a version that is affordable for small and medium-sized businesses."

"We are currently facing a challenge because it does not offer data encryption by default, only data masking."

"The manuals should be clearer. There needs to be an online course or tutorial for faster management training."

"It is really constrained as an environment because you cannot change something that would be useful. It is a very good product because it is very similar to what you have on-premises. Yes, it is constrained, but it is expected because it is a platform as a service so it has to be constrained."

"Having a single command to encrypt a table would be an improvement."

"Guardium has not saved us time or money."

"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."

"It is a very costly product."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."

"The price of Guardium is higher than the main competitor, Imperva. In addition, it's complex as the calculation of the licensing is done by Processor Value Unit (PVU). However, before purchasing a DAP solution, it is important to analyze specific points to evaluate the cost-benefit of each tool. For example: Does the environment to be monitored have mainframes? If so, it's a point for Guardium. If not, a point for Imperva. Note: IBM is looking into a new licensing policy and reducing the price of Guardium."

"IBM Guardium Data Protection charges you based on the number of users, e.g. based on the number of licenses, and it's either on a per-license or a per-data basis."

"Guardium's pricing is quite high, but it gives good value for money for all sizes of enterprises, especially for partners."