Don't think of Verdasys as just another data leakage protection vendor

I've been briefed by Verdasys a few times over the years, but frankly the fog never quite cleared for me.  While I was Research Director at Forrester I would talk to these guys, usually in the context of data leakage protection, or what Forrester later termed Information Leak Prevention (ILP).  This week in Boston, however, I had another briefing and finally got it. (Gimme a break - I never said I was the smartest guy in the industry.... Oh, well, maybe I did, come to think of it...)

Digital Guardian, the flagship Verdasys product, is like a framework for managing information. When data is transferred from the safe confines of data repository or server to the wild and unregulated world of laptops, desktops and PDAs, Digital Guardian acts as a governor of the data, permitting all normal and authorized use, auditing and reporting on that use, and when appropriate, inhibiting malicious and unauthorized use. I think of it as a GPS for corporate data making the proper use of data easy and unencumbered while alerting to "wrong turns."

I think the $17 dollars Verdasys has spent on marketing has not stratched as far as they may have hoped, and that's why most folks erroneously stick them in the ILP/ DLP bucket.  But the Verdasys approach goes far beyond the simple filtering of the data leakage vendors, or the unsophisticated "on/off" endpoint security device control products.