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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 26.5%, down 27.5% compared to last year.
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite, on the other hand, focuses on Data Masking, holds 2.6% mindshare, up 2.5% since last year.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection26.5%
Imperva Data Security Fabric24.4%
Oracle Audit Vault8.0%
Other41.1%
Database Security
Data Masking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite2.6%
Perforce Delphix9.7%
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)7.4%
Other80.3%
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

"Guardium is easily integrated with other IBM solutions, a significant advantage and a key reason we chose Guardium. Both platforms share the IBM infrastructure, enhancing compatibility and integration. Additionally, Guardium offers a vulnerability analyzer, which is another compelling feature of the platform."
"We also use IBM Guardium to support security initiatives and compliance policies. For example, our audit area can verify if someone has access to information that they shouldn't have, for their regular job functions."
"It can help with PCI compliance. It includes features like data masking, especially during queries, which supports compliance efforts."
"It supports our audit compliance."
"We have integrated IBM Guardium​ with IBM Watson Curator. They access Curator to identify and correlate other actions the user is doing to determine if this is a legitimate action or not."
"Compliance Quick Start – Quick, GUI, step-by-step guide to automate compliance and give the customer a quick ROI."
"The most valuable feature I have found is the performance of client monitoring. The other competitors are unable to do this."
"Guardium is helping customers to get insights into who is accessing company data, when they are doing it, and from which location."
"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, the solution is very user-friendly and enables us to provide the security of a database file folder layer."
"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite."
 

Cons

"The FAM module needs to be improved."
"I'd like to them make sure that the data sources can be more easily managed, because some of them are tied to multiple things. You try to remove one and you have to go to all the different spots to remove the associations before you can get rid of it."
"The backup and recovery is very resource-hungry and requires a huge amount of storage capacity."
"The analysis part of this product could be improved."
"Personally, I would not recommend this product."
"Guardium has limitations so most companies using advanced technologies have stopped using this tool because it doesn't have the capability to identify the PII data in flat files."
"Deployment process is very complicated as you need to now all advanced parameters. Almost not possible to figure out for yourself."
"The one thing that I would like to see improved, but I don't think it's going to be in the next release, is its reporting capabilities. I think that's been offloaded to another third-party product that I think IBM actually endorses for that."
"Customer support is reasonable on the whole but it could be improved."
"Could be more agent-led with options for simplifying implementation."
"Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an expensive solution"
"The product's pricing is reasonable and affordable. It is in the moderate range."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is very high price, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"The biggest challenge is the cost associated with the product, and the cost of maintaining. Everything is not translated directly to the benefits we see. There are benefits, yes, but if I were writing the check, would I buy Guardium? No."
"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."
"The price is good for the quality of the 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
19%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction 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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