Data security and privacy

Stopping data from leaving 8 companies

An employee leaving for a rival company may try to take the customer list by email, on a USB stick, by uploading it to a personal drive or by pasting it into a chat. This software checks each of these ways out and blocks sensitive data. This is called data loss prevention (DLP).

Data loss prevention

Companies that watch every way out.

CyberhavenCyberhaven, with engineers in Bengaluru, follows every piece of data from where it was created to where it is going.BengaluruHired recently

ForcepointForcepoint is the long-established data loss prevention company. It also sells security in the cloud, which is one of the ways its rules are enforced. It has engineers in Mumbai.Mumbai

Nightfall AINightfall AI, also in Bengaluru, finds sensitive data in rented apps and in the AI tools where data now leaks.Bengaluru

StracStrac is a young company from Bellevue, in the United States, with engineers in Bengaluru. It also stops sensitive data from leaving.

Protecting the file itself

Permissions that stay with the file wherever it goes.

SecloreSeclore, from Mumbai, wraps each file in permissions, so the file stays protected even after it has left the company. This is called digital rights management.

Built into other products

Data loss prevention inside email, cloud and document products.

ProofpointProofpoint applies data loss prevention rules to email.Bengaluru · HyderabadHiring nowSee alsoEmail security and anti-phishing

Skyhigh SecurityFormerly McAfee EnterpriseSkyhigh Security watches data moving into cloud apps, as part of its security in the cloud.BengaluruHired recentlySee alsoNetwork security, firewalls and SASE

NetDocumentsNetDocuments builds data loss prevention into the document system in which law firms keep their files.HyderabadSee alsoLegal practice and matter management software

The tech, explainedData loss prevention (DLP)Enterprise digital rights management Shadow AI control↗ Generative AI applications

Finding sensitive data 3 companies

This software searches a company's databases, files, emails and cloud storage, and finds the sensitive data: customer records, card numbers, contracts. It also shows who can open each piece.

Concentric AIConcentric AI, with engineers in Pune, labels data with AI language models instead of hand-written rules, so a contract is recognised as a contract without anyone describing it.Pune

BigIDBigID finds and labels sensitive data in database tables, documents and emails, with privacy tools on top. It has a team in Chennai.

VaronisVaronis is the largest and oldest of these. It started by mapping which employees can open which folders on a file server, and how far a stolen account could reach, and has since extended this to the cloud.

The tech, explainedData security posture management (DSPM)

Encryption and masking 3 companies

Encryption scrambles data so that only the holder of the key can read it. Tokenisation replaces a real value, such as a card number, with a different number that is useless if stolen. Masking hides parts of the data before it is shown to a person or an AI model.

FortanixFortanix, whose engineering is in Bengaluru, sells key management and encryption. It also sells confidential computing: running code inside a locked-off area of the chip that even the server's owner cannot look into.Bengaluru

ProtegrityProtegrity, with a team in Mumbai, replaces sensitive values in a database with stand-in values, so the data can be used across a company without the real values moving.MumbaiHired recently

ProtectoProtecto, from San Jose with engineers in Bengaluru, finds sensitive data and masks it before the data reaches an AI model.

The tech, explainedData protection

Privacy management 3 companies

Privacy laws, such as India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, require a company to record each person's consent and to answer requests to see or delete their data. This software manages that work.

Privacy PillarPrivacy Pillar sells consent management, and the workflow for answering people's requests about their data.

PrivaSapienPrivaSapien shows a company its privacy risks, and now also tests AI systems against privacy rules.

LexisNexis Risk SolutionsLexisNexis Risk Solutions sells data about people: matching records that belong to the same person, and checking names against sanctions lists. This is the kind of data use that privacy rules govern.Chennai · MumbaiHiring nowSee alsoCredit bureaus, scoring and underwriting

The tech, explainedPrivacy management Identity graph↗ Marketing technology (martech)

How it all worksEnterprise cybersecurityEverything an attacker can aim at in one company.

See how it works →

What's changing

AI models must not see some data.

Companies now give AI models access to their documents and databases. The model must not see, or repeat, data that the person asking is not allowed to see. Data security companies are adding checks that mask sensitive data before it reaches a model, and that apply each person's access rights to the model's answers.

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Elsewhere in Cybersecurity:Email security and anti-phishing Identity and access management (IAM)KYC, identity verification and fraud prevention Endpoint security and device management Network security, firewalls and SASE Cloud and SaaS security Managed security services (MDR and MSSP)Vulnerability management and penetration testing Threat intelligence and attack surface management AI security Governance, risk and compliance (GRC)Physical security, surveillance and trust and safety

Companies: ingrid's company map. Hiring signals: postings feed of 5 Nov 2026.