Across the IT and cybersecurity landscape, organizations are investing significant time, money, and human resources into data classification and tagging initiatives. 

The rationale seems sound: We need to classify and label sensitive data first so we can properly protect it. This makes sense, right? But, what if this effort to classify your data is only delaying the time it takes to properly protect the data and worse yet, may result in never implementing policies to protect the data?  

Below, we explain: (1) Why data classification is often not leading to better data protection in today’s risk environment. (2) Why, if you haven’t started a data classification project, you may not need to, and yet still achieve better data security with less burden on your users and IT team.

What Are We Really Trying to Solve?

The objective of any data protection strategy is straightforward: to ensure sensitive data is not stolen, leaked, or misused, whether by: 

• Insider threats (malicious or negligent),

• Ransomware attacks, 

• Or improper or insecure sharing with third parties. 

Data classification doesn’t prevent any of these outcomes on its own. 

The ultimate goal isn’t classification, it is making sure sensitive information is handled in a secure way. Classification is just a means to an end. Therefore, the critical question is: does classifying data consistently result in stronger protection?

In practice, the answer is often no. Without strong policies and persistent, automated safeguards applied directly to the data, classification alone leaves sensitive files exposed.

Defining Sensitive Data: We Already Know What Matters

Companies typically have a sense of what qualifies as sensitive data: 

• Data under legal or regulatory protection (e.g., CUI, PII, PHI). 

• Data whose theft would financially cripple the business (e.g., IP, contracts, product designs). 

• Data that, if lost or exposed, could cause reputational, legal, or human harm. 

Most organizations already have a strong understanding of what types of their data fall into these categories. And most organizations have a good idea of where the vast majority of this data is stored. What they tend to be most insecure about is (1) the accessibility and security around all this data and (2) the percentage of sensitive data not being stored in the proper way or location. 

Organizations seek to classify and tag data so they can ultimately implement policies that use these classifications to ensure every piece of sensitive data is handled in a compliant and secure way.

The Core Problems For Classifying Data

A solution that relies on data classification to ensure all sensitive files are secure must first make sure that every document is classified and tagged correctly. Unfortunately, this has two major problems. To classify the data you must rely on employees or an algorithm to determine what is sensitive.

Problem 1: Classification is inconsistent

Manual tagging relies on users. Employees often mistakenly mislabel or intentionally mislabel so that the classification does not create friction in their ability to use and share the data. Automated tagging is limited by pattern-matching and context inference, often producing false positives and negatives. Neither method guarantees complete or correct coverage. And just a 3% to 5% miscategorization will result in IT support tickets that can overwhelm the IT team and create a lot of business friction. Not to mention leaving critical data unsecure.

Problem 2: Classification adds operational drag

Building taxonomies, training users, integrating tagging tools, and maintaining classification policies introduce friction, delay, and cost, often without measurable risk reduction. It becomes a compliance checkbox, not a practical defense.

Problem 3: New data is created constantly

New sensitive data is generated daily by employees, contractors, and partners. Relying on a tagging process to catch it in real-time is unreliable and inefficient. If the tags are missing, misapplied, or ignored, the data becomes invisible to policy enforcement systems.

Problem 4: Classification is not a control

Tags are just metadata. On their own, they do nothing to stop a file from being emailed externally, shared to a personal Dropbox, or exfiltrated by malware.

Security Is Only As Effective As The Foundation

Classifying the data is only the first step toward implementing user policies that define who can access the data and how they can use it. These policies rely on the classifications being correct because if they are not, then sensitive data will be unprotected and people who should have legitimate access to certain information are now blocked from being able to access it.

Remember that 3% to 5% mis-categorization rate? Multiply this by the number of documents in your organization and the number of people who need to access these documents and you can get an idea of how much work and friction will be created. The typical way of dealing with this problem is to avoid implementing policies that meaningfully control the access and use of the content. This results in diluting much of the security benefit, which was the original objective.

The core challenge of classifying accurately is the main reason why 90% of those purchasing a traditional DLP solution, which relies on data classification and tagging, ever implement policies to properly secure the data. This results in a tremendous amount of time, effort and cost to classify data but often still leaves the data unsecure.

File-Centric Security is an Alternative to Data Classification

A file-centric security solution offers a compelling alternative to a strategy reliant on classifying data. It offers greater file security, lower cost, quicker speed to implement and is less burdensome for users and IT teams. Here are some of the most compelling differences:

Key Benefits 

• Eliminates reliance on classification: Security is applied universally to any folder and file. Each file is secured using AES-256 encryption. Who can access files and how they can access them is programmed into the data and is easily integrated into your existing Identity Access Management System.

• Encryption by default: Files are encrypted at creation, and access is controlled at the file level.

• Policy enforcement everywhere: Access rules, usage restrictions, and time-based controls travel with the file. 

• Speed to protection: Most organizations already know (1) which departments and (2) which folders have the bulk of their sensitive data. These folders can be protected in a matter of minutes or hours.

• Transparent to Users and Easy on IT: Because there is no reliance on classification, file-centric security removes all of the false alerts and support tickets from users and IT. 

With file-centric security, the question of "Is this file tagged correctly?" becomes irrelevant because every file is protected with less business friction. 

Curious to learn more about how file-centric security differs from traditional DLP? Read this: File-Centric Security vs. DLP: What CISOs Need to Know

FenixPyre’s File-Centric Security Platform 

FenixPyre provides a comprehensive file-centric security solution, enhancing data security through advanced file encryption and dynamic access controls in a platform that is easy to use, setup and manage: 

• Military-Grade Encryption: Utilizes FIPS 140-2 validated modules and AES-256 encryption, securing any file type, from standard office documents to specialized formats like CAD files. 

• Access Files Through Their Native App: Any file can be encrypted but with FenixPyre, no matter what the file type, encrypted files are accessed from their native application making the experience seamless to users.  

• Milliseconds of Latency: Encryption and decryption are optimized with no noticeable impact to the end-user. 

• Integrates with existing IT stack: FenixPyre integrates into your existing Identify and Access Management System to manage user permissions and security groups, offering automatic user provisioning and de-provisioning. 

• Strong and Performant Key Management: Every file is encrypted with a distinct file encryption key. File encryption keys are encrypted with a Customer Master Key that is hosted in a Hardware Security Module. Customers can manage their own HSM. File contents are zero-knowledge to anyone outside of the client’s access list, including the possible external data management or cloud hosting solution. 

• Comprehensive Compatibility: Supports encryption across various environments, including network shares, cloud storage platforms (SharePoint, AWS S3, Azure), and local file systems. 

• Real-Time Monitoring and Analytics: Integrates seamlessly with SIEM tools to provide real-time logs, behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, and proactive threat response capabilities, further enhancing organizational security posture. 

  
  

Take a look at our recent article to learn more: Rethinking Your Security Investment (RoSI): Protecting Data, Not Just Networks

Conclusion: Protect the Data, Not the Label

It is hard to argue with the logic of first needing to classify data. But, as examined above, if your goal is data security then classifying the data may not be the best prerequisite to achieve this goal.

File-centric security provides a more secure and direct path to securing sensitive data. It also doesn’t just reduce risk, it redefines control. FenixPyre ensures your data stays protected no matter where it goes or who tries to access it.

Ready to secure what matters most?

View our resources below and see how file-centric security can transform your data protection strategy.

• Connect with FenixPyre on LinkedIn

• View our industry blog for more strategic insights

• Talk to an expert to see how file-centric security can work for your business

When a company becomes focused on preventing data theft, the first question that needs to be asked is: how is our organization positioned to prevent theft by people inside our network with valid credentials.  

This question is critical because over two thirds of data theft results from people using valid credentials. Yes, two thirds!  

Credential theft was involved in 31% of all breaches in 2024 (Verizon DBIR). Insider threat (negligent or malicious) accounts for over 40% of all data theft, particularly in sensitive industries like law, finance and healthcare. 

Perimeter security is not effective at protecting data when someone is inside the network operating with valid credentials, nor is zero trust, or disk encryption, or DLP. This blog focuses on why it is so important to construct your data security with a perspective of someone being inside your network using valid credential and why file centric security offers the most effective protection against data theft in this most prevalent and damaging scenario.

Email Spoofing Is Still the Best Way to Steal Valid Credentials

In today’s threat landscape, email spoofing remains one of the most dangerous and deceptively simple tactics for stealing a valid user’s credentials. By forging the sender’s identity, cybercriminals trick employees into opening malicious attachments, clicking poisoned links, or sharing sensitive information, all under the guise of trust. 

Spoofing is a direct path into the type of phishing schemes that result in credential theft, which unlocks your data and can lead to ransomware attacks.

Email Security Is Not Enough to Prevent Spoofing and Phishing Attacks

Preventing phishing attacks often comes with the same familiar advice: “you need a layered approach.” That typically includes a long list of tools - SEG, ATP, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MFA, SSO, Security Awareness Training, SIEM, EDR, SWG, DNS filtering, Email Attachment Sandboxing, DLP, and Incident Response and Reporting, and more. 

While this approach may seem logical for the cybersecurity vendors selling it, for most organizations it results in a labor intensive and complex patchwork of incomplete solutions. The burden of implementing and managing these tools falls on tech teams, often leaving security gaps that the layers were supposed to prevent. Even with all of these solutions, phishing attacks still continue to be the most effective way to steal credentials and unlock all your sensitive data. But, there is a better way.  

"Email security filters can block a lot, but they can't block everything. File-centric encryption ensures that even if attackers get inside your network, they leave empty-handed." 
- Hari Indukuri, CTO & Co-Founder, FenixPyre

Is Your Security Stack Ready for Insider Mistakes and Misuse?

Employees, whether feeling disgruntled or entitled, are often responsible for taking significant amounts of sensitive data from their employer. Data taken can range from client lists and intellectual property to financial records and PCI-regulated information. 

In addition, there is all of the data lost by insiders who see security procedures as optional or as obstacles to productivity. This mindset leads to risky behaviors, including accessing company information on unsecured devices, connecting through untrusted networks, using weak or shared passwords, storing sensitive files on personal devices, and engaging with suspicious emails that bypass standard precautions.  

The real question isn’t whether this behavior is a problem, but whether your cybersecurity stack can actually prevent it. For most organizations, the answer is a resounding no.

How File-Centric Security Fills Email Security Gaps

Whether it is phishing attacks which flows into a ransomware attack or a disgruntled employee maliciously or negligently acting, file centric security is the most comprehensive way to protect your sensitive data and fill the gaps in your current data security stack. And it can be very easy to onboard and manage.  

What should you expect when choosing a File-Centric Security Platform? 

• Continuous Protection Against Active Threats: Files remain encrypted at all times (at rest, in transit and in use), even when actively accessed or moved by people with valid credentials. Any violation of policies or attempts to exfiltrate are prevented by strict encryption that persists irrespective of the data’s location or state. 

• No Reliance on User Behavior: Employees don’t have to remember to classify or secure files. The protection is built into the file itself, drastically reducing the risk of human error and the leading cause of data breaches. 

• Granular Control: Dynamic, role-based, or location-based access controls and encryption is tailored to individual files, allowing organizations precise control over data usage, visibility, and movement. 

• Protection from Credential Theft: File-level encryption safeguards files independently from user credentials. Even if user credentials are stolen, attackers cannot decrypt and misuse sensitive data without appropriate keys and permissions. 

• Mitigating Insider Threats: Unlike disk encryption, file-level encryption maintains protection even when files are accessed internally, restricting unauthorized internal viewing or alterations based on stringent access controls. 

• Preventing Ransomware Attacks: By encrypting individual files, even if attackers gain system-level access or admin credentials, the data remains encrypted and unusable to the attackers. 

• No Dependency on Data Classification: File-centric security eliminates the dependency on data classification accuracy, as it encrypts all files individually. Protection policies are enforced through strict access controls rather than classification, ensuring consistent security without extensive administrative overhead or user friction. 

By addressing the core data vulnerabilities of a perimeter defense, file-centric security delivers protection that’s persistent, adaptive, and effective even when being accessed by those inside your network using valid credentials.  

File-centric security platforms offer a smarter, more resilient way to secure your most valuable data. 

"Security that depends on perfect behavior or perfect detection will always fail. File-centric security flips the advantage - putting protection directly on the data, not the defenses around it." - Emre Koksal, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, FenixPyre

FenixPyre’s File-Centric Security Platform

FenixPyre provides a comprehensive file-centric security solution, enhancing data security through advanced file encryption and dynamic access controls in a platform that is easy to setup and manage: 

• Military-Grade Encryption: Utilizes FIPS 140-2 validated modules and AES-256 encryption, securing any file type, from standard office documents to specialized formats like CAD files. 

• Access Files Through Their Native App: Any file can be encrypted but with FenixPyre, no matter what the file type, encrypted files are accessed from their native application making the experience seamless to users.  

• Milliseconds of Latency: Every file is encrypted with a distinct encryption key. Encryption and decryption are optimized at a kernel-level implementation, with no noticeable impact to the client. 

• Strong and Performant Key Management: Every file key is encrypted and stored in a high-performance database. File keys can only be decrypted in a Hardware Security Module, where the master key is hosted. Customers can manage their own HSM. File contents are zero-knowledge to anyone outside of the client’s access list, including the possible external data management or cloud hosting solution. 

• Seamless User Experience: Offers frictionless integration into user workflows, ensuring files remain secure without impacting productivity. 

• Patented Dynamic and Context-Aware Access Controls: Implements robust role-based and location-based access restrictions and revocation capability, effectively reducing risk by controlling who can access files and under what conditions. Files remain protected even when stolen. 

• Comprehensive Compatibility: Supports encryption across various environments, including network shares, cloud storage platforms (SharePoint, AWS S3, Azure), and local file systems. 

• Real-Time Monitoring and Analytics: Integrates seamlessly with SIEM tools to provide real-time logs, behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, and proactive threat response capabilities, further enhancing organizational security posture. 

• Revocation and Tracking: Administrators can revoke access, set expiration times, and track who tries to open any file. This creates a feedback loop of visibility and control, even post-delivery. 

• Secure Sharing: Share encrypted files outside your organization but never lose control and security.  

File-centric security doesn’t just reduce risk - it redefines control.

By encrypting sensitive files and enforcing access at the source, FenixPyre ensures your data stays protected even when someone is inside your network using valid credentials. Security is baked into the file itself, so data stays secure and in compliance no matter the person, place or device. 

Ready to secure what matters most?

View our resources below and see how file-centric security can transform your data protection strategy. 

• Connect with FenixPyre on LinkedIn  

• Read Blog: Disk Encryption or File Encryption: Why You Must Have Both to Keep Data Secure 

• Read Blog: File-Centric Security vs. DLP: What CISOs Need to Know

• Talk to an expert to see how file-centric security can work for your business 

In a world where data breaches make headlines week after week, even among companies with the largest security budgets, it’s time to ask some hard questions. 
 
Are we building true data protection, or just building more complex security systems that still leave data exposed? 

For decades, security spending has focused on building bigger perimeters, layering on more tools, and chasing threats across increasingly fragmented ecosystems. But despite these efforts, the breaches continue. And the stakes keep getting higher. 

It’s worth considering: Could traditional security investments be reinforcing a broken model rather than solving the problem? 

In this article, we explore how a shift to file-centric security offers a smarter, more resilient alternative, one that protects data at the source and frees organizations from the cost and complexity of outdated architectures.  

This blog will cover the following topics in detail:

• The perimeter data fallacy and how we got here

• The flaws in perimeter-based data protection

• Why the perimeter model persists 

• How Zero Trust offers a partial evolution 

• An overview of the File-Centric Security model 

• Cost and security comparison between perimeter and file-centric security

The Perimeter Data Fallacy and How We Got Here

The concept of a security perimeter was born in a world where digital infrastructure was centralized. In the early days of enterprise computing, networks, servers, and users were housed within the same physical and digital boundaries. Security architectures mirrored this reality, focusing on building thick walls, like firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion detection systems, all designed to keep intruders out. If you were inside the perimeter, you were implicitly trusted.

But security architecture has not evolved enough to align with the changing shape of business. Today’s enterprise is dispersed:

• Employees are working from anywhere.

• Applications live across multiple clouds.

• Vendors, contractors, and third parties have privileged access.

• Sensitive data moves freely across email, collaboration platforms, and SaaS tools.

Despite these profound business transformations, cybersecurity strategies have largely remained perimeter-first, creating a dangerous disconnect between how businesses operate and how they protect the most important asset, their data.

“We’ve modernized everything about how we work, except how we secure it. Perimeter security was built for office parks and on-prem servers, not cloud-native, boundary less enterprises.” - Thomas Kwon, CEO, FenixPyre

The Flaws in Perimeter-Based Data Protection

Here’s the central problem: data no longer lives within walls. It’s dynamic, mobile, and shared across ecosystems.  

But perimeter-based security still treats data as if it’s static, locked in a vault. 

This results in critical data vulnerability gaps: 

• Once a user gets inside, either through compromised credentials, a phishing campaign, or insider access, the data is largely unprotected. 

• Remote and hybrid environments break down the perimeter entirely, exposing data assets to the open internet. 

• Third-party access creates risk zones you can’t fully control, extending trust into infrastructures you don’t manage. 

In modern ecosystems, perimeter security still wrongly assumes trust can be assigned based on boundary alone, but boundary is both ambiguous and irrelevant, which leaves sensitive data vulnerable.

Why the Perimeter Model Persists

There are several reasons why organizations cling to the perimeter model: 

1. Legacy Investment: Billions have been spent on perimeter tools and services. Replacing these services requires capital and a total architectural shift, something few organizations are ready for. 

2. Incremental Additions: Instead of rethinking the foundation, organizations keep layering new tools (like DLP, ZTNA, SWG) on top of the perimeter, hoping to patch weaknesses that originate from an outdated design. 

3. Operational Familiarity: Security and IT teams are trained on perimeter-based tools. Shifting to a data-centric model demands new skills, new workflows, and often a new mindset. 

4. Comfort in Control: Firewalls and gateways offer visible points of control, which creates an illusion of safety. But this visibility does not equal protection. 

It’s time to confront the core issue: the way we secure data hasn’t kept pace with the way data actually moves.

Zero Trust: A Partial Evolution

A Zero Trust security framework is built on a simple but powerful principle: never trust, always verify. But while Zero Trust security is often hailed as the evolution of perimeter security, in practice, it's often implemented as "perimeter 2.0." 

Yes, it enforces least privilege access and continuous verification, but it still often operates through network-based enforcement, using tools like identity-aware firewalls, micro-segmentation, and context-based policies all of which can be bypassed once initial trust is established. 

Most critically: Zero Trust rarely extends to the data itself. It protects systems and users, but not the actual payload: the sensitive files, IP, and records that attackers seek. 

It’s clear the traditional approach isn’t working. To move forward, we need to rethink the very foundation of our security model, not just reinforce it. 

That’s where file-centric security comes in. Instead of focusing on where data is stored or who has network access, this approach protects the one thing attackers are actually after: the file itself.

The File-Centric Security Model: Redefining Data Protection

File-Centric Security begins defining a solution by starting with this question:  

How can you ensure your data isn’t stolen even when someone is inside your perimeter with valid credentials?

In a digital landscape where sensitive data travels across clouds, devices, and borders, file-centric security offers a fundamental shift: it protects the file itself, not just the environment that surrounds it. 

Unlike perimeter-centric approaches that attempt to safeguard infrastructure boundaries, file-centric security turns the document into a self-defending asset persistently protected wherever it goes - even when someone is using valid credentials.

What Makes File-Centric Security Different

File-centric security solves data security by solving the problem from a different starting point. Here's how:

• Valid credentials do not change the level of security around the file. In other words, security and compliance is automatically integrated into the file itself, to ensure that security policies are always followed no matter valid credentials or not.

• It doesn’t rely on monitoring user behaviors to implement protection. Instead, protection is persistent and automatic at all times around sensitive data.

• Allows data to move seamlessly in a secure state as opposed to DLP solutions that leaves the data vulnerable and causes friction through classification, tagging, blocking users, and creating false alerts.

• Costs anywhere from 25% to 50% less to protect data than a typical DLP/perimeter centric data security approach.

Each file becomes a secure container, enforced by technologies that are both invisible to users and powerful to adversaries.

The result? Files become autonomous, mobile, and inherently secure without relying on complex perimeter defenses.

File-Centric Security Offers Unified Protection Across Departments

A single file-centric platform can protect all data types uniformly, whether it’s: 

• HR safeguarding employee records 

• Finance protecting PII and contracts 

• Legal managing NDAs or regulatory documents 

• Engineering preserving IP and source code 

• or C-Suite sharing board-level insights. 

A uniform security platform eliminates the need for siloed systems, manual classification, or burdensome user training. Most critically, it reduces dependence on user behavior, which is the most frequent point of failure in traditional models. And it even protects against those inside your network with valid credentials and bad motives.

Cost and Security: A Comparison between Perimeter and File-Centric Security

The following sections offer a detailed cost and security comparison between perimeter and file-centric security.

Comparing the Cost to Secure Data Using “Perimeter + Legacy Data Security Stack” or “Perimeter + File-Centric Security”

When evaluating data security strategies, cost is a major consideration, but it’s not just about the price tag, it’s about the Return on Security Investment (RoSI).  

Below, we break down the number of tools and estimated costs organizations typically spend to achieve tighter data security via a perimeter-based stack compared to a more secure and streamlined, file-centric alternative.

Cost Breakdown of “Perimeter + Legacy Data Security Stack” Approach to Data Security

When we think of protecting data, we need to evaluate how to build a stack that protects against the most common threat vectors; insider threats and remote work, ransomware, and third-party risk management, which often requires implementing a broad and expensive stack of tools:

*The numbers in the above table are approximations.

Total Estimated Annual Cost:

• 10 Users: $55,769

• 100 Users: $200,740 

• 500 Users: $525,950 

• 1,000 Users: $822,900

The Hidden Costs

Beyond licensing fees, perimeter solutions demand heavy IT investment for configuration, maintenance, and user training. Even then, these solutions fall short, especially if your DLP system never transitions out of "monitoring mode". In fact, typically only 10% of DLP users get out of monitoring mode  and even then, files often remain unencrypted and vulnerable.

File-Centric Model: Simpler, Smarter Security

Imagine achieving better data protection at a fraction of the cost and maintenance. A file-centric approach simplifies your stack dramatically while closing key security gaps. File-centric security models can integrate into your most basic security stack and provide ultimate data protection. 

By reducing the number of tools and integration points, organizations benefit from: 

• Reduced operational overhead 

• Easier training and onboarding 

• Lower total cost of ownership (TCO).   

In fact, organizations can expect to save anywhere from 25% to 50% of the cost of a typical perimeter security approach, all while increasing the security around the data.

Evaluating the Security Difference: Why File-Centric Security Wins

When comparing cybersecurity architectures, the difference isn’t just about cost savings; it’s about the effectiveness and resilience of the protection itself.  

File-centric security redefines the quality of protection by addressing core vulnerabilities that perimeter-based approaches consistently miss. 

File-centric security isn’t just a different tool—it’s a different architecture, purpose-built for today's threat landscape:

This design ensures security becomes automatic, invisible, and self-enforcing removing the human error factor from the equation.

Protection Against Today’s Top Threat Vectors

Network Breaches and Ransomware 

Even if attackers breach the network, they gain access only to encrypted files, not usable data. This transforms ransomware from a devastating breach into a contained disruption with zero data loss. 

Insider Threats 

Whether malicious or accidental, insiders cannot bypass file-level policies. Files remain encrypted and unusable if policy conditions aren't met, even if copied or moved outside the organization. 

Third-Party Risk  

Encrypted files can be shared with vendors or partners without exposing underlying content. Even in an insecure environment, the data remains under your control, visible only through pre-defined access rules.

File-Centric Security is Simple to Set Up and Fast to Deploy

One of the most compelling aspects of file-centric security is how quickly it can be deployed within your existing perimeter architecture:  

• No complex network redesign. 

• No need for exhaustive classification schemes. 

• No disruption to users or workflows. 

• Easily integrates with your existing security stack. 

Within a few hours, organizations can begin protecting their most sensitive files across departments, devices, and borders. A file-centric security platform can also seamlessly leverage any of the data classification work already completed.

A Smarter, Simpler Path to True Data Security

Perimeter security focuses on where the data is. File-centric security focuses on what the data is and makes sure it stays protected everywhere and at all times. 

This shift eliminates blind spots, reduces risk, and provides true resilience against modern threats, without overwhelming your teams or your users.

FenixPyre’s File-Centric Security Platform

FenixPyre provides a comprehensive file-centric security solution, enhancing data security through advanced file encryption and dynamic access controls: 

• Military-Grade Encryption: Utilizes FIPS 140-2 validated AES-256 encryption, securing any file type, from standard office documents to specialized formats like CAD files. 

• Milliseconds of Latency: Every file is encrypted with a distinct encryption key. Encryption and decryption is optimized at a kernel-level implementation, with no noticeable impact to the client. 

• Strong and Performant Key Management: Every file key is encrypted and stored in a high-performance database. File keys can only be decrypted in a Hardware Security Module, where the master key is hosted. Customers can manage their own HSM. File contents are provably zero-knowledge to anyone outside of the client’s access list, including the possible external data management or cloud hosting solution. 

• Seamless User Experience: Offers frictionless integration into user workflows, ensuring files remain secure without impacting productivity. 

• Patented Dynamic and Context-Aware Access Controls: Implements robust role-based and location-based access restrictions and revocation capability, effectively reducing risk by controlling who can access files and under what conditions. Files remain protected even when stolen. 

• Comprehensive Compatibility: Supports encryption across various environments, including network shares, cloud storage platforms (SharePoint, AWS S3, Azure), and local file systems. 

• Real-Time Monitoring and Analytics: Integrates seamlessly with SIEM tools to provide real-time logs, behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, and proactive threat response capabilities, further enhancing organizational security posture. File-centric security shifts the security conversation from “who can access the network” to “who can access the data” and under what conditions. It’s a powerful, streamlined alternative to a bloated perimeter stack. And with FenixPyre, it’s simple to adopt and scale. 

File-centric security doesn’t just reduce risk—it redefines control.  

By encrypting sensitive files and enforcing access at the source, FenixPyre ensures your data stays protected no matter where it goes or who tries to access it. Even when someone is inside your network with valid credentials.

Ready to secure what matters most? Contact our team to start the conversation.

View our resources below and see how file-centric security can transform your data protection strategy.  

• Connect with FenixPyre on LinkedIn  

• View our industry blog for more strategic insights  

• Talk to an expert to see how file-centric security can work for your business