Brazilian service provider Avant Services managed to achieve the Platinum Partner level in cooperation with Safetica within a year. Furthermore, his investments returned approximately in 6 months.

How to reach the goal that could seem to be very challenging? We have talked with Renan Fernandes, CEO & founder of the company.

Why have you decided to partner with Safetica?

We founded Avant two years ago. We started to cooperate with Esy (our distributor) almost immediately. Alberto (Esy) mentioned that they have signed a contract with a company with a very promising tool called Safetica. A few weeks afterwards, the Covid Pandemic was declared, and many companies started to adopt the Home Office approach, which forced many of them to manage user behavior and prevent possible data loss. During this transition, we understood the real potential of Safetica DLP and therefore we started to work in an organized and systematic way to present the solution in Brazil and adhere to the needs of our customers.

Why and how did you decide to do the investment and become Platinum partner so fast?

Due to the Pandemic many companies started to look for a solution such as Safetica. At the same time, the LGPD in Brazil begun to apply, therefore the market potential became huge! 

Thus, it was necessary to study Safetica’s tool, invest in people, processes, and training so we were prepared to be able to demonstrate, sell and serve our customers with quality.

I would like to highlight that the alignment of the Technical Team with the Commercial Team is very important. What helped us a lot during this period was Safetica’s roadmap/materials and the support of our distributor, Esy.

When did your investment in Safetica return? Did you have to hire somebody?

ROI approximately in 6 months. It was very fast! At the beginning, it was not necessary to employ anybody new, however, I think it is important to have a dedicated person in the team, it will make things easier.

Were there any obstacles with achieving Platinum partner level?

I believe that the biggest challenge we faced was the timing. When Safetica entered the Brazilian market, it was full of uncertainties. In addition to that, our company structure has been offering different product profiles (not DLP), which also required our adaptation.

Things started to move more smoothly, once we understood the profile of the ideal customer, that is interested in investing in tools that increase income, save money, or reduce risk. Furthermore, since Safetica covers more than one of these reasons, this made the purchase potential much greater, thus facilitating the development of the market and the product in Brazil.

How much time did it take Avant to get the Tier 1 & Tier 2 certifications required for Platinum partner level? 

Tier 1 was fast, as it is mandatory for all technicians at Avant. After understanding and using the solution, we obtained Tier 2 certificate. Tier 1 certificate took us approximately ten days and Tier 2 fifteen days.

What surprised you the most about the cooperation with Safetica?

We have had two big surprises with Safetica. First, when it comes to the concept of DLP, the theory is quite frightening and complex. But when you start working with the tool and understand its concepts, you can see how simple and intuitive it is.

The second surprise was the ease of communication with the entire Safetica team, in addition to being able to deliver feedback and indicate possible improvements. I can safely say that almost no vendor gives this kind of opening. Fast communication, simplicity, and objectivity!

What advice would you give to other partners when it comes to the Safetica partner program?

It is not good to give advice to the competitors, right? I am joking! I think, it is important to use and study the documentation from Safetica, to get familiar with the solution, and have strong teams, both commercial and technical. Furthermore, it is important to have a good relationship with a local distributor, since he is the main connection between a vendor and a reseller.

Avant Services is a Brazilian IT service provider company that offer customers a wide variety of products: from the most common software licensing to complex security solutions. Avant was founded two years ago in Maringá, Brazil. Avant can 

On 9th September 2021, we introduced new products, a new approach to security and our new brand. Let’s take a look at the new generation of Safetica ONE, formerly Safetica DLP.

Download Safetica ONE here.

We spent thousands of hours to bring you the biggest update ever! Do you want an eagle-eye view of the most strategic new features? Then take a look at the new content inspection and OCR, risk detection, and data analytics API integration. We’ve also reflected our new branding in the products’ user interfaces and improved the overall user experience.

Let’s take a closer look at the new features.

Powerful content-based classification system

In order to protect data, Safetica ONE relies on data classification to determine which data is sensitive. Safetica started out as a context-based DLP solution. Later, in order to provide a less restrictive approach, Safetica 8 brought a lighter and more flexible alternative of content-based data classification, which allows automatic detection of sensitive content in files that should be protected. In Safetica 9, we tried to bring these two approaches closer together with unified policies. We are approaching a unified system and the first step toward this goal is Safetica ONE’s even more powerful content classification technology built from scratch.

This efficient multiplatform-ready content inspection enables a less invasive DLP approach, improved by smart pre-scanning to minimize the impact on end-user productivity and business-as-usual. Thanks to granular scanning control, you can configure when scanning should run and when it’s not needed. Real time scans have been optimized to provide results within 3 seconds on average and the pre-scanning technology eliminates the need for real-time scans in 55% of user operations. The CPU and memory usage are also optimized to work in low priority mode and reserve system resources for tasks run by the end-user.

At the same time, the new inspection technology doubles the list of supported file extensions (over 30 file types, covering all common documents and text-based files) and is currently available on Windows, with macOS support coming soon.

And OCR is here!

Perhaps the most awaited new feature of Safetica ONE is Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which allows for sensitive data detection in scanned PDF documents and image files. The new OCR technology is endpoint-based, does not require additional resources or connectivity, works in real time as well as offline. And even though this technology requires more performance than regular text scanning, with all the content inspection optimizations mentioned before, the performance impact is minimized and pre-scanning helps limit the need for real-time OCR scanning. Language-specific character recognition can be configured and all languages supported by Safetica Endpoint Clients are also supported for OCR scanning. You can find more details about OCR technology in Safetica ONE in Knowledge Base.

One unified experience

We have unified the user interface design across the entire Safetica ONE product and also aligned it with the new Safetica brand. And while  working on this, we also added dozens of user experience improvements and fixes, which, combined with the new visual, will make for a more intuitive and easy-to-navigate experience.

Better data availability: API for reports

Data is only useful if you can examine and analyze it. We want our customers to be able to use Safetica data for their analytics, to create advanced custom reports and further promote data security within their company and with every employee.

That is why we implemented an API to integrate Safetica with reporting services such as Power BI and Tableau to enable more advanced data analytics and visualization or to merge data protection statistics onto broader/custom cybersecurity dashboards.  To learn more about how to integrate data Safetica ONE with your data analytics tool, see this Knowledge base article.

And here is a list of the specific improvements we made to Safetica ONE 10.0:

Major improvements

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for inspecting text content in scanned PDF documents and image files
• New file content inspection technology
  • Minimized impact on end-user productivity and business-as-usual
  • Support for over 30 file types covering all common documents and text-based files
  • Granular control over file type content inspection
• Advanced detection of risk for early identification of security threats and DLP events
• Unified design and user experience improvements for both desktop and web management consoles
• Safetica Enterprise: Data analytics API for integrating Safetica with third party reporting services

September 2021 marks an important event in Safetica’s history: the introduction of Safetica ONE, offering multiplatform content inspection with OCR, and reporting API. Safetica ONE is the 10th generation of our Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution and the first generation reflecting our repositioning towards unified Insider Threat Protection with DLP, all of this presented within the new Safetica brand.

New portfolio: Safetica ONE and Safetica NXT 

Ten years after the introduction of the first generation of Safetica, we are happy to present to you the newest one. Our flagship, enterprise-grade solution Safetica ONE (formerly Safetica DLP) offers Data Loss Prevention and Insider threat protection within one solution. This 10th generation data security solution is coming to the market accompanied by our brand new cloud-based alternative. Our SaaS product, Safetica NXT, helps organizations with easy & early detection and response to internal threats and data flow risks. 

“With Safetica, data security is now available for every company. We are excited to introduce our new Safetica approach, Insider Threat Protection, which adds flexible security features to our proven Data Loss Protection,” explains Richard Brulík, Safetica’s CEO.

New approach: Insider Threat Protection

Safetica is well known for its complete DLP capabilities, which are now combined with Insider threat protection to offer modern data security solution. This allows risk detection independent of data classification and provides early warnings of risk – hours or days before it can turn into actual data security incidents.

When Safetica ONE is deployed in an organization for the first time, automated risk detection helps to identify hidden data security threats. For our current customer base, risk analysis will help admins to improve their existing DLP configurations.

New features: Safetica ONE (10.0)

We spent thousands of hours to bring you the biggest update ever, with the new content inspection and OCR, risk detection, data analytics API integration. We also improved the user experience and refreshed user interface to reflect our new branding. Let’s take a closer look at the new features.

Efficient multiplatform-ready content inspection enables a less invasive DLP approach, which we boosted with smart pre-scanning to minimalize impact on user productivity. Optimized inspection technology widely improves file type support. The biggest new feature is Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which allows for sensitive data detection in scanned PDF documents and image files. Enhanced content inspection is available on Windows, with macOS support coming soon. Learn more about Safetica ONE in this webinar. 

Better data availability: Reporting API 

Data is only as useful as it is available to check and decide upon. We want our customers to be able to use Safetica data for their analytics, to create advanced custom reports and further promote data security in their company and to every employee. 

That is why we implemented an API for integrating Safetica with reporting services such as PowerBI or Tableau to enable more advanced data analytics and visualization or inclusion of data protection statistics to broader/custom cybersecurity dashboards.

And last, we overhauled the GUI and improved UX across the entire Safetica ONE product to reflect our new Safetica brand and bring a more intuitive user experience. 

New brand: logo, positioning and website

Our revamped Safetica One interface stems from our new visual identity and Safetica brand. The logotype accompanied by a shield symbolizes data and protection, the color blue highlights reliability and peace of mind. Our brand new website reflects our new positioning and brand.

Zbyněk Sopuch is an experienced CTO at the Czech company Safetica, which specializes in company data protection. In his commentary for Euro.cz, Zbyněk analyzes the safety concerns about popular communication platforms and provides managers with some advice on preventing unwanted leaks of valuable company information.

• The volume of data transmitted through instant messaging platforms has more than doubled over the course of the pandemic.
• The first lockdown in spring 2020 led to a 50%increase in data transmission over the Internet, whereas external devices were the preferred method pre-COVID. A large leap also occurred during the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, when the intensity of online communication increased by an additional 30%.
• Platforms for team communication, such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, experienced a gigantic boom, as did private instant messaging platforms.
• This trend has its drawbacks, especially for companies and the safety of their data.

There are many platforms for private communication, and employees often like to use their favorite instant messenger for work. This phenomenon is called “Bring Your Own Service.” However, this brings significant new threats – both technical and legal. It is possible to substantially reduce the risk of sending internal data if managers avoid basic mistakes and thoroughly enforce appropriate employee policies.

Private and work communication don’t mix!

Back in the day, the main security threats used to be private email and data storage. Today they’re private chat and cloud. Practically everyone uses company emails, and the new threat is mixing private and company communication. While it’s quite common for an employee to lose a flash drive with internal data or have their company laptop stolen, it is even more common for them to use private email, unsafe cloud storage, or an instant messenger for work purposes.

This kind of communication and data transmission is convenient and has clear advantages, which is why companies shouldn’t try to ban it, but face it. From the data security point of view, companies should choose appropriate and user-friendly tools and ensure their use for company communication and data transmission. This way, employees will not need to take shortcuts and use Messenger, WhatsApp, and other popular instant messaging platforms. However, every tool can be used wrongly, including B2B communication tools. Pay attention to setting up rules and educating employees.

How can I keep control over company data?

When selecting which communication tools to use in your company, it is important to check whether the data is stored permanently. If it is permanently accessible from anywhere, you lose control over it and risk leaks. It is key to select B2B tools that allow you to control access and connectivity. And just like with your company cloud, it is vital to have strong two-factor authentication.

I would ideally avoid all instant messaging applications for private everyday communication that we use for chatting with friends and family. These applications belong on private smartphones, not on company laptops. The main exception is communication with customers through company accounts on social media. However, it is still necessary to set up two-factor authentication and use appropriate tools to secure company data to keep important information from leaking.

Almost every platform has had security issues.

Practically every communication platform from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to Microsoft Teams and Zoom has had security problems recently. It is worth using a service that tackles these problems head-on. A useful hint is the service’s willingness to inform users about these problems and the time it takes to fix them. When the fix takes a long time, it is more likely for the mistake to be exploited by outside actors. As soon as information about a potential security hole gets to the public, many hackers/crackers try to abuse it, especially from Russia and China. This is why it is important to take a good look at the history of the service and evaluate how flexibly and quickly they can react.

The volume of transferred data will continue to grow

Aside from data leak prevention, it is also good to plan for the future. The active use time of communication platforms has doubled over the course of the pandemic and will surely continue. The same goes for the use of video calls and overall internet traffic.

Safe company communication and data sharing are complex issues that require a responsible approach from both management and employees. It is futile to try to fight the trends. It is better to understand them early, set up appropriate rules, monitor possible threats, and prepare scenarios to minimize current and future challenges. You can ask your employees what tools they like to use and why and then offer them a similar but more secure alternative. It also serves as a good reason for you to switch platforms.

A healthy balance between tight security and a pleasant user experience has always been Safetica’s priority. With the latest version, DLP blocking policies do not necessarily interrupt users’ work, since the admin can allow trusted users to override DLP policies and perform their desired actions without asking for help. 

Such events are recorded and can easily be audited. Thanks to users’ comments, the admin will be able to understand the context of the events much more clearly. 

User override can be configured for each policy, enabling you to control which situations and users should be allowed this flexibility. 

Control when file content scan is needed and when it is not

When your users repeatedly work with sensitive data and you know they do so in a secure way, there’s no reason why DLP should slow down their work. 

With the new Safetica version, simply create a top priority “allow” policy which describes safe operations, places, and users. Safetica will stop file scanning for such events and will allow users to work at full speed. Simple as that. 

Control data upload to non-company Git repositories

Whether you use Git for managing source code or as a document versioning system, Safetica can now help your users work with Git securely. Work with company repositories remains 100% uninterrupted, but you can easily prevent users from pushing changes and data to non-company repositories. 

Performance and security improvements

As usual, the new version comes with dozens of optimizations and bug fixes, this time focused on backend performance and faster work with records in both Safetica Management Console and WebSafetica.

Safetica Mobile users will surely welcome the increased security of our new iOS certificates. 

Announcing public beta of Safetica 9.10 with OCR!

For the first time ever, we are announcing the availability of a public beta for an upcoming version of Safetica 9.10. It will include Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and brand new content inspection technology.

OCR allows you to inspect scanned PDF documents and image files and protect them the same way as other documents. With the new content inspection technology, you also get better control over what files should be inspected and an extended list of supported file types. 

We have already tested the beta version thoroughly but want to validate its real-life performance on more variable environments. Once we are 100% certain that everything works flawlessly, we will make Safetica 9.10 available to all our customers.