Microsoft to tap RSA for data loss prevention products

Following in Cisco's footsteps, Microsoft today announced that it, too, will team up with RSA to create data-loss prevention products. Microsoft and RSA, which is now the security arm of EMC, have been strategic partners for decades. But the new product that this relationship will create seems specifically targeted to take on Cisco. Earlier this year, Cisco announced its own partnership with RSA for data-loss technology. (Also, on Monday, look for an analysis of this new product from identity management guru, Dave Kearns, author of Network World's Security: Identity Management newsletter.)

Specifically, Microsoft will embed RSA's data-classification engine, dubbed the Data Loss Prevention Suite 6.5 into Windows Server 2008's Active Directory Rights Management Services (RMS). Data Loss Prevention Suite 6.5 is expected to ship later this month. Merging of identity management handled by Active Directory and data loss prevention should automate the protection of sensitive data, analysts say, according to an article in InternetNews.com

"You can define policies centrally about the information you want to protect, have your infrastructure be content-aware, have it understand when it's handling sensitive information according to those policies, and know who's touching that information," RSA's Corn told InternetNews.com.

The two companies said that this is more than just an announcement to integrate two products. The two will work over the years to build the RSA technology into a wider variety of products, they said. In the future, analysts expect mobile devices to be covered under the same umbrella.

In the meantime, Cisco and RSA earlier this year partnered for the same DLP technology (which RSA acquired when it bought DPL maker Tablus). The first product from that pair was an endpoint protection product dubbed Cisco Security Agent.

It is unclear at this point whether DLP Suite 6.5 integrated with Microsoft's RMS is complementary or competitive to the Cisco DLP end point product. Each was obviously intended to work independently of one another, however if each shares the same DLP technology at the core, the RSA product just might offer the best all around choice for a Microsoft/Cisco shop.

For more details on this announcement, see: Microsoft, EMC partner on data-loss prevention