IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security comparison

IBM and Imperva are both solutions in the Database Security category. IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Imperva is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.9. IBM holds a 32.4% mindshare in DS, compared to Imperva’s 30.5% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Imperva users who would recommend it.

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Read 77 IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reviews

5,554 Views
2,702 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Read 55 Imperva SecureSphere Database Security reviews

4,319 Views
2,740 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security and IBM Security Guardium Data Protection offer comprehensive solutions in the database security category. IBM Security Guardium appears to have the upper hand due to its feature-rich capabilities that justify the higher cost.

Features: Imperva SecureSphere is noted for its customizable dashboards, strong real-time monitoring, and alerting functions. IBM Security Guardium is admired for its extensive audit capabilities, integration with IBM products, and scalability.

Room for Improvement: Imperva could improve its integration with non-traditional databases, threat detection speed, and broadened compatibility. IBM Security Guardium may need easier configuration, faster patch updates, and a more intuitive interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Imperva SecureSphere is known for easy deployment and responsive customer service. IBM Security Guardium involves a steeper learning curve but benefits from comprehensive support.

Pricing and ROI: Imperva SecureSphere offers competitive pricing with positive ROI due to lower initial costs. IBM Security Guardium's higher price correlates with its advanced features, with users acknowledging good ROI where its capabilities are maximized.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Ranking in Database Security

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Ranking in Database Security

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 32.4%, up from 29.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is 30.5%, down from 31.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Security

Featured Reviews

Muzzamil Hussain

Assistant Vice President at National Bank of Pakistan

Offers vulnerability analyzer with easily integration with other IBM solutions

We are currently facing a challenge because it does not offer data encryption by default, only data masking. When we decide to implement data encryption, we must purchase an additional add-on, which incurs extra costs. Data encryption and data masking often work together in organizations. Therefore, using different products for these functions, such as Oracle for data management and a plugin for data masking, creates a burden on our systems. We have to install and manage multiple agents, like Oracle's light agents and IBM's agents. IBM should include data encryption in its standard package. This would streamline operations and reduce the complexity and cost of managing separate data protection solutions. Currently, it supports cross-platform integration but does not support integration with flat file databases. IBM Guardium integrates well with international databases like MySQL and Oracle, making it easy to use with these systems. We need to develop a plugin to integrate flat file databases with Guardium.

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PrashantParab

Security Analist at HDFC Bank

Provides cluster management and has the ability to receive alerts if anyone tries to tamper a database

It would be more efficient if we could manage the consoles of management servers from a single location. Currently, if the management server for our DR environment is separate from the production management server, we have to log in to each server individually. For example, to check the status of production servers integrated with Infowa, I need to log in to the production management server. Similarly, I have to log in to the DR management server to check the status of the DR servers. Connecting both servers and managing them through a single console would make it easier to handle all alerts in one place.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It tests security to support SOX compliance."

"It has been very difficult to analyze all the network traffic with something else. Guardium provides that feature, it's heuristic. So we have rule-based algorithms in place to take care of that."

"Our main focus for IBM Guardium is to support security initiatives and compliance policies within our organization. We use the DPD product for monitoring, especially for GDPR, SOX regulations and, of course, the vulnerability assessment that we use to make sure we're keeping up with our patches, making sure things are configured, making sure we're following the best practices."

"IBM Guardium Data Protection has better integration options than most of the leading competitors on the market, and the price is always better."

"The most valuable feature is the GUI, the interface. It also interfaces well with REST API, if you want to automate some of the commands."

"Audit Process Builder – Workflow generator to enhance audit tasks and compliance workflows."

"The purpose of EBM Guardium is to monitor database activity and who is accessing it. This is the most valuable feature."

"It has automated a bunch of manual tasks, giving us insights into activities that we would not otherwise be able to capture."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pros

"The solution provides significant benefits such as compliance and security. Its data risk analytics tool helps reduce numerous events to more manageable incidents."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the database security policy."

"The company focuses on and has a passion for security."

"The beauty of it is that it provides segregation of duties. Typically, in the traditional environment, DBAs administer the database, and they have too much access. We are in the process of implementing other Oracle solutions, and it brings some kind of segregation. Just because someone is a DBA does not mean that he or she should have access to all of the data. Some of the data can be masked so that privacy and security are enhanced, especially when it is customer data for an institution like a bank."

"The tool happens to be very intelligent when it comes to processing policies and sounding alerts. It allows us to implement policies and measure actions against them, raising alerts accordingly."

"It has a lot of different components that cover the needs of our customers."

"The solution is very stable."

"There are three major main use cases of this solution. The first one is to fulfill compliance regulations. Customers—especially the banks, health sector, and manufacturing—need to comply with the regulations in different countries. They have to fulfill compliance regulations around the privacy of data. In order to fulfill those requirements, they're using Imperva. It helps them to fulfill these requirements, and they are not fined by the regulators. That is the first use case why people buy Imperva."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pros

Cons

"An improvement would be to make the pricing relative in terms of regions."

"Initial setup is very complex. Once you start interacting with people's databases, they get very hesitant. Then, the amount of social tasks to socialize the solution ensuring people are comfortable with it became a much heavier lift."

"Overall testing and quality need improvement. It is fairly buggy at times, so it feels like it could use additional staff on the product, testing and trying it out."

"The documentation could be better."

"I'd like to them make sure that the data sources can be more easily managed, because some of them are tied to multiple things. You try to remove one and you have to go to all the different spots to remove the associations before you can get rid of it."

"We have had some issues with patches breaking things unexpectedly in our environments."

"Needs easier integration with custom applications."

"There are features like end-to-end and S-TAP mapping, and the ability to install policies for your configuration builder. They're not there, but we'd like to see them in the next version."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection cons

"The agent does not monitor databases in the containers."

"The solution needs local support."

"The firewall features are not very strong and should be improved."

"The platform doesn’t support some newer databases."

"It is quite expensive. I would prefer a lower price."

"The only challenge I see is that SecureSphere is deployed on servers or databases which are held on physical infrastructure. However, there are databases which are hosted on cloud platforms and Imperva has a separate tool altogether for that, not SecureSphere."

"Improvements can be made in data enrichment and enhancing the GUI (Graphical User Interface) for a better user experience."

"Its reporting can be improved. The reporting feature is currently not good enough for our clients."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not an expensive product. We purchase its yearly license."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."

"The biggest challenge is the cost associated with the product, and the cost of maintaining. Everything is not translated directly to the benefits we see. There are benefits, yes, but if I were writing the check, would I buy Guardium? No."

"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is very high price, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."

"Its cost is good. With the new metric of licensing, such as PDO not being available now, customers are expecting a good price for the solution."

"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is reasonable and it requires a license."

"The product’s price is reasonable compared to other products."

"This is an expensive solution and the price should be reduced."

"It is quite expensive. We wanted it in my former organization, but the price was very high. So, we couldn't purchase it. I moved to a different organization, and this organization has purchased it."

"Pricing is low and scalable to add features and volume."

"The price is very high but compared to the price of the overall solution, then I think it's a good deal because the solution itself is great."

"It is very expensive."

"The cost of support for this solution is very expensive."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

29%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Guardium Data Protection?

The pricing is good, and I have no problem with it. Although there is no flexibility to compete with other products, it generally costs between one hundred and three hundred thousand per year depen...

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What do you like most about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?

The features I like are the robust policies, which allow us to create customized monitoring based on specific activities.

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Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

My recommendation is Imperva.

See all answers

What do you like most about Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

It is not cheaper, but based on the feature, it is okay.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Voltage SecureData Enterprise vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

Vormetric Application Crypto Suite vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

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Oracle Audit Vault vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 18% of the time

DataSunrise Database Security vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 8% of the time

Trustwave DbProtect vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 4% of the time

jSonar vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 2% of the time

Imperva DDoS vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 1% of the time

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

November 2024

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection report

Download IBM Security Guardium Data Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

November 2024

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security report

Download Imperva SecureSphere Database Security product report

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium

No data available

Learn More

IBM

Imperva

Overview

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data from across the enterprise, providing real-time data activity monitoring and advanced user behavior analytics to help discover unusual activity around sensitive data.

Deploy the solution to help discover regulated data in your data stores and use pre-built templates for regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CCPA and many more, to streamline and automate compliance workflows.

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security:

Audits all access to sensitive data.
Alerts or blocks database attacks and unauthorized activities, in real time.
Detects and virtually patches database vulnerabilities.
Identifies excessive user rights and dormant users, and enables a complete rights review cycle.
Accelerates incident response and forensics investigations with advanced analytics.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

October 2024

Free Report: IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

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