In 2014 Gartner published its first Market Guide for File Analysis Software, where the research organization formally sounded the alarm of the consequences and risks of the continued exponential growth of unstructured data in organizations, while identifying software vendors (including Micro Focus) who could address this new “File Analysis” market segment.

Costs and risks identified in the initial and subsequent Guides include:

• Rising expenditures of storing increasing amounts of data
• Knowledge of what data is being stored and who has access to it
• Understanding which files to retain and which to justifiably delete
• Regulations pertaining to Personal Identifiable Information (PII)
• And many others

These issues raise the importance for companies to practice Cyber Resilience. For many organizations, the natural response from the Guide and its recommendations was to focus on addressing the growth of their stored data, with a particular emphasis on the ROT – a Gartner term for Redundant, Outdated, and Trivial files – located on their enterprise storage.  And while identifying and removing the duplicate, irrelevant, and temp files from network storage addressed some of the storage costs, it did not address the risks.

When it comes to addressing unstructured data growth and risks, there’s ROT and then there’s MORE. And by MORE, we mean the Misplaced, Orphaned, Risky, and Exposed files that need to be identified and addressed.

Misplaced files are ones that need to be moved to more secure locations on the network. Orphaned are those with an owner who has left the organization and are probably just taking up space and causing backups to take longer. Risky files are those that by being stored, pose a risk to the organization – think of financial files of a targeted company for a merger. And then there’s exposed files – those who can be accessed by unauthorized users within the organization.

Micro Focus File Reporter addresses ROT and MORE by reporting and analyzing the files on your Microsoft network, including the Microsoft 365 cloud. Through reports and graphical analytics tools, you can identify files to delete, files to move to a more secure location, files whose access permissions need to change, and much more. File Reporter’s capabilities enable companies to practice Cyber Resilience effectively.

For additional information, watch Unstructured Data Growth – It’s MORE than ROT.

Learn why Gartner continues to identify File Reporter as a tool to address the objectives of File Analysis.

More information:

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