BlueTalon
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Data Security |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Founder | Pratik Verma |
| Fate | Acquired by Microsoft |
| Headquarters | Redwood City , United States |
Area served | Global |
| Products | Data-centric security platform including user access control, data masking, auditing |
| Parent | Microsoft (since July 2019) |
BlueTalon, Inc. operated as a privately held software firm specializing in solutions for data-centric security, including user access control, data masking, and auditing tailored for intricate, hybrid data infrastructures. Established in 2013 by Pratik Verma, the company was based in Redwood City, California.
Microsoft acquired BlueTalon in July 2019, strengthening its portfolio in data governance.
Background
The development of BlueTalon’s access control technology was driven by significant industry dynamics that increased demand for sophisticated data-centric security measures:
- The rapid expansion of enterprise data accumulation.
- The emergence of cutting-edge database platforms such as Hadoop and NoSQL, facilitating economical management of large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
- The growing occurrence and impact of cyberattacks resulting in major data breaches.
- The swift adoption of cloud computing, leading organizations to reevaluate how they deploy computing resources and manage data.
Funding
BlueTalon remained a private entity supported by investors including Maverick Ventures, Signia Venture Partners, Data Collective, Arsenal Ventures, Biosys Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Stanford-StartX Fund, Divergent Ventures, and Berggruen Holding.
Technology
BlueTalon’s security framework centers on protecting the data itself rather than focusing solely on network or server security. This model enables scalable protection and enforces uniform access policies throughout complex hybrid environments—including cloud infrastructures—while ensuring compliance with regulations and allowing business users efficient data access.
The platform distinguishes policy creation and administration from enforcement at the data repository level. Its adaptable design supports large organizations managing analytics across more than 50 different data sources. BlueTalon is compatible with multiple database technologies such as Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark, NoSQL databases like Cassandra, as well as traditional SQL systems, deployable on-premises or within private and public cloud environments.
The BlueTalon Data-Centric Security Platform applies centrally established user permissions and data access rules to every request, delivering only authorized datasets. It features dynamic data masking to safeguard sensitive information from unauthorized access and incorporates auditing capabilities that enable security teams to track data usage at the data layer for compliance monitoring and anomaly detection.
Partnerships
To facilitate enterprise adoption of big data while addressing security challenges, BlueTalon established strategic alliances with leading big data and cloud providers, including Hadoop distributors and DataStax. In August 2015, it achieved certification through collaboration with Cloudera.
In July 2015, BlueTalon joined forces with Microsoft to offer data-centric security solutions for Hadoop on Microsoft Azure HDInsight. Additionally, its products are accessible to Amazon Elastic MapReduce users. These partnerships allow mutual customers to integrate BlueTalon’s security features more efficiently within their big data and data lake projects, thereby enhancing their business strategies and expanding market opportunities.