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This article was first published on SBC Americas on January 23rd, 2023
Deploying a robust cyber-defense program should be a key focus for any online-facing company, especially for those that are handling large volumes of customer data and payment details. This is an area that California-based DruvStar specializes in.
In 2022, DruvStar expanded its cyber defense operations to nine new jurisdictions – New York, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Maryland, Colorado, Ohio and Louisiana – as it seeks to support gaming operators across the US and Canada.
Alongside its market entries, the cyber security specialist has strengthened its portfolio with the launch of DruvStar DataVision™ – a product that the company’s CEO and Founder Manjit Gombra Singh believes will provide unmatched protection for gaming operators.
DataVision, he told SBC Americas, offers betting and gaming companies the ability to capture important instrumentation data from across their online offering and easily identify data breaches in real-time. He noted that DataVision is an enterprise-class data observability and analytics platform to enhance data safety, with 3 functional components:
- It instruments and records granular data activity of the IT estate.
- Models the users and system’s behavior patterns with DataVision’s use of machine learning.
- Analyzes in real time for anomalies using captured data, and information from other external sources (e.g., DruvStar’s other security offerings).
The client’s IT organization can easily ‘tune’ DataVision to establish data observation and analysis in line with their ‘risk-tolerance.’ Based on data policies that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and instrumented data, along with analysis conducted in step 3, DataVision will notify the operations team of any issues and suggest solutions.
He said: “DataVision’s innovative and proprietary technology has been built by DruvStar and is awaiting patent approval by the USA Patent and Trademarks Office. It’s a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service product, which leads to speedy adoption and lower cost.”
“Recently the security industry has popularized the phrase ‘zero trust security’. This approach assumes that the network is always hostile, and that internal and external threats are constantly present. To grant access to enterprise resources, one must authenticate and authorize users and devices regardless of their location. The mantra that defines the zero-trust approach is, “never trust, always verify”. By offering comprehensive visibility and continuous analysis, DataVision becomes a vital part of the infrastructure needed to create a zero-trust data environment.”
DruvStar DataVision is not only designed for intentional security exploits, but also to actively identify the unintentional actions, the human error, that is always of concern with complex and extensive IT estate that is typical of gaming and hospitality.
The DruvStar CEO went on to state the three main benefits of DataVision. “First, it provides insight into data flow and automatically flags data policy violations that are of interest to both the security and IT teams.”
“Second, it provides a compliance view of the data to meet various regulatory and audit requirements. Preparing for and undergoing audit is less onerous since it is more about generating various reports required for auditors, thus transforming a typical three-month IT project into a five-minute task.
“Third, DataVision establishes a system of record for data and user interactions, which is required for forensic analysis. The processed records become the basis for root cause analysis and compliance.”
“We believe that the ability to have a comprehensive view of user and system activity is important to provide effective security assurance.” Singh continued.
“Additionally, our certified Security Operations Center gathers intelligence from across the industry and employs that intelligence in conjunction with DruvStar technology, providing a superior level of cyber-defense.
“Through our security assessments and threat hunting, we discovered over 14,000 issues in 2022. Those clients who now adopt DruvStar DataVision will see a significant increase in the detection abilities of their IT infrastructure.”
Rounding off his discussion with SBC Americas, Singh pointed out some of the key threats to an online gambling company. Unsurprisingly, the shift towards becoming a more digital-focused industry has come with its own unique set of challenges.
He concluded: “If you analyze the hot trends in the gaming industry, with digitization across cashless systems, igaming and sports betting, the reliance on data for each enterprise is growing exponentially. These are served by complicated IT systems sharing sensitive data across several management systems: patron, accounting, payment, marketing, financial, VIP, loyalty, trading, and customer care. Data is often shared across multiple jurisdictions, cloud, and on-premises infrastructure.
“Now, consider that in the context of the IT controls in the industry, which are mainly focused on the availability, the ability to keep the business operating at all times. The sole focus on the availability objective focuses on business continuity and data recoverability but doesn’t do justice to data safety needs. The industry is focused on old techniques, such as data back-ups and patching. While undoubtedly important, we know that such practices aren’t sufficient to detect data breaches. Data integrity and confidentiality are important too.
Today’s malicious actors are highly advanced, exploiting any weaknesses in IT visibility that can result in data breaches. Our mission is to prevent data breaches and operate business in compliance of regulations. We owe it to our patrons to provide them the best means of protecting the security of their operations. DataVision serves this purpose by observing and analyzing their most valuable IT asset – the data that drives their business.
