SafeNet helps enterprises enhance Hadoop Big Data security

While Hadoop provides scalable, cost-effective storage and fast processing of large data sets, securing information in big data implementations presents a significant challenge for organisations. Hadoop stores data in clusters that it distributes across hundreds to thousands of data nodes. However, Hadoop lacks the ability to completely secure the data at rest residing in the nodes of those clusters. Unprotected, each data node represents a potential entry point for a rogue insider or malicious threat, and leaves sensitive data in clear view should an unauthorised user or service gain access. This presents a tremendous, and potentially costly, risk for organisations.

“Organisations are playing a balancing act between capitalizing on Hadoop’s scalability and efficiency to uncover value in big data and protecting high-value information in their implementations,” said Todd Moore, vice president, Encryption Products, SafeNet. “With the volume of data that a company generates growing exponentially and the number of breaches on the rise, security must be a priority with Hadoop deployments. ProtectFile enables companies of every size to lock down sensitive data at rest in clusters without impacting Hadoop performance, and can also support compliance mandates, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, in big data implementations.”

ProtectFile for Linux delivers a complete security solution for Hadoop by providing transparent and seamless encryption of sensitive data stored in Apache Hadoop clusters. It presents limited drag on performance and no re-architecting of existing big data implementations is required. ProtectFile features automation tools for fast, easy roll-out and standard deployment to multiple data nodes in a Hadoop cluster. Like other SafeNet encryption and authentication products, ProtectFile provides centralised key and policy management, so organisations have complete control over encryption keys, as well as the ability to define and enforce granular access controls to protect against unauthorised access.

“As is typically the case with emerging technologies, security was not a priority in Hadoop’s original conception and design,” said Garrett Bekker, senior security analyst, 451 Research. “However, as more organisations are looking to move Hadoop projects from the proof of concept stage into production, they are increasingly looking for ways to ensure that the sensitive information stored in those Hadoop nodes is protected from prying eyes. The ability to encrypt data-at-rest that is potentially distributed across thousands of nodes should provide comfort for organisations that are concerned not only about the security of their existing data, but also the proprietary and potentially highly confidential outcomes of their big data experiments.”

In addition to the release of ProtectFile for Linux, SafeNet also announced the availability of an updated version of ProtectFile for Windows that enables the transparent and automated file-system-level encryption of server data in the distributed enterprise in Windows environments.