Cybersecurity giant Thales has unveiled a comprehensive file activity monitoring solution designed to give organizations realtime visibility into their most vulnerable data assets, as companies struggle to protect the vast amounts of unstructured information flowing through modern hybrid work environments.

The Thales File Activity Monitoring (FAM) platform, launched as part of the company's CipherTrust Data Security Platform, targets a critical blind spot in enterprise security: the monitoring and protection of unstructured data such as emails, chat logs, media files, and application logs that contain sensitive information.

According to research firm IDC, unstructured data represents 90% of all worldwide information, yet most organizations lack adequate visibility into how this data is being accessed, copied, or shared across their networks. This gap has become increasingly problematic as remote work and cloud adoption have expanded the attack surface for cybercriminals.

The new platform continuously monitors file activity across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, flagging suspicious behaviours like unexpected copying, downloading, or sharing of sensitive files. Realtime alerts and analytics help security teams identify potential data breaches before they escalate into major incidents.

"As unstructured data grows rapidly across distributed environments, organizations need more integrated ways to track and safeguard their most sensitive information," said Todd Moore, Vice President of Data Security Products at Thales.

"With File Activity Monitoring, Thales reinforces its leadership in enterprise data security by delivering realtime insight, intelligent automation, and unified visibility through a single, powerful platform."

The solution addresses compliance requirements for major regulatory frameworks including GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS by providing comprehensive audit trails and automated reporting capabilities.

AI-Powered Security Assistant

The platform includes a generative AI-powered chatbot that allows security teams to query audit data using natural language and generate custom compliance reports. This feature aims to reduce the operational burden on IT and security professionals who are increasingly overwhelmed by the volume of security alerts and compliance requirements.

"Automation and intelligence help overwhelmed security teams scale operations and focus on what matters most," Moore explained.

"With tools like our chatbot, they can ask natural language questions and get instant, actionable answers, accelerating response times and improving operational efficiency."

Leila Kuntar, Principal Information Security Engineer at travel technology company Amadeus, praised the solution's approach to reducing false positives while maintaining comprehensive monitoring capabilities.

"Thales' innovative approach to File Activity Monitoring tackles key challenges like blind spots in hybrid environments, offering real-time visibility and smart anomaly detection," Kuntar said. "By striking the right balance of depth and simplicity, FAM shows promise in helping us strengthen the SOC without added complexity."

https://cpl.thalesgroup.com/data-security/file-activity-monitoring