Check Point announces integration with Microsoft Azure

Check Point's new integration with Microsoft Azure is a step towards protecting corporate data breaches across multiple vectors.

Check Point security appliances and the Check Point R80 SmartConsole are now fully integrated with Microsoft Azure Information Protection (Microsoft AIP), with the aim of prevent the leak and loss of sensitive business data.

The integration of Check Point's advanced policy enforcement capabilities with Microsoft AIP's file classification and protection features enables enterprises to keep their business data and IP secure, irrespective of how it is shared.

This prevents employees from accidentally sending sensitive business data outside of the corporate network by Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, and extends complete data leak protection capabilities to popular web services such as Gmail, Dropbox, FTP and Box.

"User error is one of the leading causes of data breaches, exposing organisations to reputational damage and to penalties from data watchdogs for breaching compliance regimes. Enterprises need a way to protect their sensitive data against accidental breaches, without compromising individual and corporate productivity," says Check Point ANZ managing director Scott McKinnel.

According to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 35% of approximately 42,000 breaches were the result of human error.

Check Point says the integration between its solutions and Microsoft AIP prevents accidental breaches from happening.

It also enables organisations' security and IT teams to track and control the exposure of sensitive information, and to take corrective measures to prevent data leakage or misuse.

When users create or handle files with sensitive data, Microsoft AIP recognizes the sensitive nature of the file and prompts the user to label the document as 'Confidential Financial Data'. With this label, no user in the organisation can accidentally send this file to an external recipient or location outside of the corporate network, as the integration with Check Point will block any improper distribution and notify the user," McKinnel explains.

This educates users about correct data handing, helping to prevent future incidents. Microsoft AIP sensitivity labels can also be applied automatically to documents and files based on IT administrator rules and conditions, enabling policy-based detection and protection of sensitive files by Check Point gateways and the R80 SmartConsole management console.

Because the integration between Microsoft AIP and Check Point enables policy-based enforcement of data in transit at the network level, IT and security teams can track and control how documents are being shared and immediately take corrective measures to prevent data leakage.

"The integration between Check Point and Microsoft AIP robustly protects corporate data against breaches across email, web and FTP services, and gives IT and security teams the tools they need to track sensitive data across networks, and rapidly remediate any incidents," Check Point concludes.