Data security is a team sport — Here’s how to stay at the top of your game

The Nightfall blog is a knowledge base for cybersecurity professionals with news and insights from the world of cloud security. Each week we’re publishing new content to help you stay up-to-date on cybersecurity topics and to prepare you for the topics and threats that occur every day on the job.

This month, we’re sharing a discount for Silicon Valley Bank customers — 25% off their first year of Nightfall. On the Nightfall blog, read about different ways developers can take ownership of data security: through understanding the risks and benefits of microservices, strengthening data security protocols in everyday work, and adding real-time scanning to their GitHub repos with Nightfall for GitHub. Finally, read and watch how Aaron’s built a custom solution in ServiceNow to protect data and scan for inappropriate sharing with the Nightfall Developer Platform.

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SVB customers get 25% off their first year of Nightfall

Nightfall knows the value of data security for startups: you need cloud-native security that just works. Our DLP platform is designed to help you address cloud-native data security effectively and efficiently. We'll handle securing your data, so you can focus on building the business.

We are partnering with Silicon Valley Bank to offer SVB customers 25% off their first year subscription with Nightfall to help companies unlock growth through data security. 

If you’re an SVB customer and want to learn more about Nightfall, click here.

25% off first year for Carta customers new to Nightfall

Carta customers can also qualify for 25% off their first year subscription with Nightfall to help companies unlock growth through data security. Companies using Carta benefit from their Startup Stack, a curated directory with special offers on products and tools to help founders build and scale companies. 

If you’re a Carta customer and want to learn more about Nightfall, click here.

Aaron’s protects data in ServiceNow with the Nightfall Developer Platform

Aaron’s is a sales and lease retail company that provides home furnishings including electronics, home goods, bedding, and furniture. Tim Alman is the Manager of the Enterprise Process Solutions team, and is responsible for creating internal business processes to make integrations between systems run smoother and faster for Aaron’s teams. 

The Aaron’s Enterprise Process Solutions team has to prevent inappropriate information from being shared in their internal communications among 12,000 employees in 1,800 stores across the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. They needed a solution that could automatically classify and protect information that doesn’t belong on their internal network.

Nightfall makes it easy for Tim and his team to protect data and scan for inappropriate sharing even without a native integration for ServiceNow. Read how Aaron’s is using the Nightfall Developer Platform in tandem with the ServiceNow developer platform to classify information they are sending into ServiceNow via their employee-facing application. 

Nightfall protects Project N95 customer data so they can expand PPE access for COVID front line workers

Project N95 began in early 2020 as a volunteer effort to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to U.S. healthcare providers in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. One year later, Project N95 has expanded its reach to a national network and a larger mission of equitable access to PPE and COVID-19 testing supplies. This growth requires strict data security standards to protect the information Project N95 receives from their clients in the healthcare space. 

As Project N95 began as an all-volunteer program and has expanded into a mostly volunteer-run organization, onboarding and offboarding volunteers and staff happens quickly to keep up with the challenges and demands of their mission. Their data security policies must be flexible to fit the team’s needs. “We have to make sure that the information provided by our customers as part of our mission is protected, as well as our proprietary information related to Project N95,” says Stewart Ellis, Project N95 net administrator.

Read how Nightfall is powering data protection for Project N95 so they can focus on their mission driven work to help combat COVID throughout the U.S.

How microservices impact your app security

Microservices, sometimes called micro services architecture, are an approach to building an app in which many independently deployable, cloud-based components or services are brought together. The idea behind microservice architecture is that the sum is greater than its parts. Microservices enable a developer to layer best-in-class components to create a unified experience for the end-user that exceeds an app experience built from scratch. 

Microservices have many uses, and security is one area where microservices can both help and harm. Read how micro services provide flexibility, scalability, and both security advantages and disadvantages to app developers and their end-users.

5 Basic data security protocols developers must know

Software developers often have administrator privilege across systems. While devs are tech-savvy, they are still human and susceptible to phishing and other data security risks. They’re also responsible for building secure apps and tools that protect a user’s valuable data. Unfortunately, the majority of data security incidents are caused by human error. Software developers make mistakes like anyone else, but these mistakes can cause millions of dollars of damage if not caught in time. 

In this case, writing good code means writing secure code. Here are some of the basic data security protocols developers must know to protect the integrity of their app and, inevitably, the data of the end-user.

How to future proof your system against a zero day exploit

A zero day is an unknown incursion that exposes a vulnerability in a piece of hardware or software and can result in data loss or malware infection before anyone realizes something has gone wrong. It’s called a zero day in reference to the number of days that a software developer or IT professional has known about the problem. 

Zero day attacks are more common than you might imagine — 100 zero-days were on the market this year, and many were undisclosed to the public for an average of 151 days. These incidents are an IT security professional’s worst nightmare. Here are steps you can take to minimize the risk of a zero day and recover as quickly as possible. 

Nightfall for GitHub, now with real-time Data Loss Prevention

We are excited to announce that Nightfall DLP for GitHub now has two plans available: Pro and Enterprise. Both plans allow you to discover, classify and protect sensitive information in any GitHub organization by actively scanning your codebase for secrets, credentials, PII, and other business-critical data to notify you of data policy violations. The Enterprise plan provides the additional ability to scan the commit history of any repo within your GitHub organization.

Read what’s new with Nightfall DLP for GitHub.