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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Vormetric Application Crypto Suite comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (1st)
Vormetric Application Crypt...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Data Masking (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Database Development and Management Tools solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is designed for Database Security and holds a mindshare of 26.6%, down 29.5% compared to last year.
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite, on the other hand, focuses on Data Masking, holds 2.6% mindshare, up 2.2% since last year.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection26.6%
Imperva Data Security Fabric23.9%
Oracle Audit Vault8.0%
Other41.5%
Database Security
Data Masking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite2.6%
Perforce Delphix9.7%
Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform7.0%
Other80.7%
Data Masking
 

Q&A Highlights

CR
Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI
Jul 07, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized monitoring has improved audit readiness and streamlines investigations of data access
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generate a significant number of alerts, and while the platform provides good visibility, reducing noise and automatically highlighting the highest-risk events would help security teams work more efficiently. Another area is ease of administration. As environments become more complex with cloud, hybrid, and on-premises databases, managing policies and configurations can require significant effort. Simplifying some of those workflows could reduce the operational overhead for administration. I would also like to see deeper automation and more advanced analytic capabilities. The security industry as a whole is moving toward faster threat detection and automated response, and having more built-in intelligence to identify unusual behavior with less manual tuning would be valuable. A couple of additional areas come to mind regarding needed improvements for IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. Integration is one of them. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection integrates with a variety of security tools, but as organizations adopt more cloud-native platforms and multicloud environments, smoother integration and simpler deployment processes would be beneficial. Many security teams are managing dozens of tools today, so reducing integration complexity can save a lot of operational effort. From a usability perspective, some administration and reporting tasks could be more intuitive, especially for new users. The platform is feature-rich, which is a strength, but it can also create a learning curve. Regarding support, my experience has generally been positive, but complex issues can sometimes require coordination across multiple teams before they are fully resolved. One feature I appreciate about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is the detailed audit trail that IBM Security Guardium Data Protection maintains. When investigating an issue, having a historical record of database activity can save a lot of time and provide the context needed to understand what happened. That is especially useful for compliance and forensic investigations. As for a wish-list item, I would like to see even more intelligent alert correlation and risk prioritization. A challenge across the security industry is that teams often deal with a large number of alerts from different tools, and determining which ones require immediate attention can still be time-consuming. Although IBM Security Guardium Data Protection already provides strong monitoring capabilities, more automated context and prioritization could help security teams focus on the highest-risk events faster.
reviewer2537625 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Protection at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Useful to encrypt sensitive data or crown jewel data stored in various places within organizations
One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies. The key management capability supports security protocols by providing an additional layer of security by separating duties. It's more secure to store encryption keys in a separate system like Thales rather than locally. If a database is compromised, the keys in Thales remain protected, making it harder for attackers to access the information.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It protects sensitive data and blocks unauthorized access to the data."
"The solution has definitely saved us time, because if you want to monitor this kind of vast environment of different products, it's going to take a lot of time. Let's say one database server has 100 database instances running on it; I don't need to install 100 data instances, I just need to install on the one database server and that will cover all of my instances on that particular database."
"IBM Security Guardium Data Protection has had a positive impact by giving me much better visibility into how sensitive data is being accessed across my database environment."
"This is a multi-platform solution that consolidates everything and centralizes support for it."
"The solution supports a lot of databases."
"The most valuable features are the modules, discovery classification, and vulnerability assessment, and the reporting side is also very, very good, especially its flexibility which allows you to tailor the reports to whatever information you want."
"Audit Process Builder – Workflow generator to enhance audit tasks and compliance workflows."
"Easy to set up data activity monitoring solution that provides competent technical support. Scalable, stable, and has good performance."
"One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies."
"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite."
"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite, the solution is very user-friendly and enables us to provide the security of a database file folder layer."
 

Cons

"I am struggling getting through to social."
"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."
"It was difficult implementing it, configuring it, getting it up and running and in production. However, since then, I believe it has stabilized."
"It needs an integration with Optum."
"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."
"Guardium's storage capabilities could use some improvement. I'd also like to have some better integration using digital technology or a connector."
"Initially it did not have support external applications like, say, Tableau, ServiceNow, Remedy, and the like. They have started growing into it, but I would like to have more and more integration with outside applications."
"There are areas that need improvement, such as the documentation."
"Could be more agent-led with options for simplifying implementation."
"Customer support is reasonable on the whole but it could be improved."
"Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."
"It is not an expensive product. We purchase its yearly license."
"Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"My company purchased IBM Guardium Data Protection in a package, so I'm unable to give its exact licensing cost, but for the package of three IBM solutions, it wasn't very expensive. I'd rate the pricing for all three solutions three out of five. When my team deployed IBM Guardium Data Protection, all features were included."
"​If you are researching this type of solution, work with IBM."
"It's an expensive solution"
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Answers from the Community

CR
Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI
Jul 7, 2020
Jul 7, 2020
I have been working with Guardium for 5 years, but I had not heard of Vormetric. So, I will not be able to help. Something I can report is from the IBM website: " IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption runs on a variety of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. It requires prerequisite software available from Vormetric, Inc. Visit the Vormetric website for information. For additional inf...
See 2 answers
ET
Works at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Jul 7, 2020
IBM is reselling Vormetric. IBM Guardium Data Protection includes Vormetric as part of the Data Protection Family.
SM
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 7, 2020
I have been working with Guardium for 5 years, but I had not heard of Vormetric. So, I will not be able to help. Something I can report is from the IBM website: " IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption runs on a variety of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. It requires prerequisite software available from Vormetric, Inc. Visit the Vormetric website for information. For additional information, refer to the Software requirements section. Vormetric is not affiliated or associated with IBM. Vormetric software products and licenses are subject to change in accordance with the policies and procedures of Vormetric. " Source: https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/2/897/ENUS216-412/index.html&request_locale=en
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise44
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Guardium Data Protection?
I don't remember the exact prices, but Guardium is an expensive tool because it is targeted towards corporate enterprises.
What needs improvement with IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generat...
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Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
BD, Delta Dental, CMI
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