With 90% of the world’s data being created in the last two years, and the total amount of data set to reach 181 Zettabytes in 2025, IT and security teams are under pressure to help their business leverage data to support key business initiatives, without exposing its data to risk. The challenges of identifying, monitoring, and protecting sensitive information have intensified. Many organizations struggle with fragmented tools and limited data discovery, as well as manual and weak classification accuracy that fail to scale, leading to data security blind spots that expose critical data to risks. This new reality has paved the way for a new security category to dramatically rise in popularity. Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) has become vital for providing continuous visibility, automatic classification, and security posture of sensitive data spread across growing SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, and existing on-premises environments.
This 2024 DSPM Adoption Report is based on a comprehensive survey of 637 IT and cybersecurity professionals that reveals how organizations are approaching DSPM, the challenges they face, the effectiveness of their current solutions, and their adoption plan over the next 12 months. Through this survey, we uncover the critical needs and priorities of enterprises when it comes to securing their data across various environments.
Key Survey Findings
ā DSPM Adoption on the Rise: DSPM is becoming the fastest-growing security category with 75% of organizations saying they will adopt DSPM by mid-2025. This is a faster rate of adoption than that of Security Service Edge (SSE) solutions, Extended Detection and Response (XDR), and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). This rapid adoption reflects the recognition that DSPM is crucial for managing data security risks in modern, multi-environment infrastructures, especially given the vital role that data plays within the business.
ā Visibility Gaps Weaken Security Postures: An overwhelming 83% of respondents believe that a lack of visibility into data is weakening the overall security posture of their organizations. This underscores the need for tools that provide comprehensive and real-time visibility into sensitive data across all environments.
ā The Data Discovery and Data Classification Gap: A staggering 87% of enterprises find their current data discovery and classification solutions lacking, with only 13% considering them very effective. This underscores a critical deficiency in data security practices, emphasizing the urgent need for more precise and automated solutions to safeguard sensitive information.
ā Challenges in Detecting and Responding to Exposures: More than 60% of organizations do not feel confident in their ability to detect and respond to data security and privacy exposures. This highlights a critical gap that must be addressed through enhanced monitoring, automated response capabilities, and better alignment between detection tools and security strategies.
ā Core DSPM Features: Real-time data monitoring (43%), data discovery (38%), and data classification (35%) are seen as the core features that enterprises should prioritize in any DSPM proof of value engagement. These features are essential for providing the visibility and control needed to secure sensitive data effectively, as real-time monitoring and integration with discovery and classification have been historically lacking.
We would like to extend our gratitude to Cyera for their insights and valuable contributions to this report. Their expertise in the data security space has been instrumental in creating this important research.
