How to stop data leaks in Slack and SaaS apps, Metomic raises $20M

Check out all the Smart Security Summit on-demand sessions here.

Collaboration is a data security nightmare. The more data is accessible to employees working remotely, the greater the risk of it falling into the wrong hands. After all, today's critical data assets don't just reside in tightly controlled on-premises servers, they're often freely available in SaaS apps and collaboration tools like Slack.

However, a new generation of data security vendors is emerging, seeking to completely prevent data leakage from SaaS applications. One such provider is Metomic, which today announced it has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners. Metomic specializes in using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect data leaks in SaaS applications.

Metomic's solution uses AI to identify data breach risks in real time with no-code workflows that security teams can use to automate data policies in SaaS applications such as Google Apps , Slack, Jira and Zendesk.

This "human firewall" approach means that if a user exposes a sensitive file, Metomic will generate a real-time notification to notify the compliance team of potential breaches.

Event

On-Demand Smart Security Summit

Learn about the essential role of AI and ML in cybersecurity and industry-specific case studies. Watch the on-demand sessions today.

look here The cost of collaboration

The announcement comes as SaaS apps have emerged at the heart of a number of high-profile data breaches, the most notable affecting Rockstar Games and Uber, where hackers used social engineering to gain access to channels Internal Slacks of both companies.< /p>

One of the sad realities of the age of hybrid working is that SaaS applications are a honeypot of confidential information and intellectual property that cybercriminals can and will exploit if given the chance.

"With the growth of remote working, the volumes of sensitive data shared through these tools are constantly increasing. It is incredibly easy for employees to share data on these applications every day, leaving behind huge data risks in the natural course of daily business,” said Richard Vibert, CEO and co-founder of Metomic.

Increasing these challenges is a lack of transparency about the types of sensitive information and intellectual property shared.

"Businesses today lack the visibility to answer questions like, "How much personal information is in my Google Drive?" In five years, the ability to answer that question, and more nuanced questions such as "which US employees have access to EU customer data?" – will become table stakes,” Vibert said.

Metomic's response to these challenges is to provide a solution that allows security teams to create custom classifiers for what constitutes PII. Then the tool will use these classifiers to automatically identify sensitive data shared within the app, assign an AI-based risk score, and remove it if protected.

A look at the SaaS security market

Metomic's solution is part of SaaS security