ESET vs Fortanix

About Fortanix

Fortanix sells the Fortanix Data and AI Security Platform, which protects data, AI models, keys and applications while they are in use, and is built on Confidential Computing. Fortanix describes the problem this way: data, AI models and applications must be decrypted in memory to run, which leaves sensitive information and proprietary IP open to admins, operators and compromised hosts. Fortanix says it pioneered Confidential Computing in 2016.^[3]

Fortanix says its unified platform covers protecting data and AI in use and preparing for quantum threats. Fortanix says it brings Key Management, Confidential AI and Post-Quantum Readiness together in one platform. Fortanix describes Confidential Computing as running data and applications in secure enclaves that isolate the data and code to prevent unauthorized access, even when the compute infrastructure is compromised. Fortanix says customers can keep data and keys under their own jurisdiction in any cloud and hold their own keys.^[1][3]

Fortanix Runtime Encryption uses Intel SGX to enable general purpose computation on encrypted data without ever exposing plaintext application code or data. Fortanix says Runtime Encryption includes an EnclaveOS that transparently protects applications without requiring modifications. Fortanix lists databases, web servers, build servers, directory servers and key management among the applications available protected out of the box. Fortanix Runtime Encryption protects containerized applications during runtime from host-level attacks. Fortanix Runtime Encryption provides a security framework to ensure that sensitive data remains protected even when in use. Fortanix says Runtime Encryption allows organizations with sensitive workloads to operate in untrusted environments such as the public cloud and remote clouds.^[4]

On key management, Fortanix says encryption keys can be stored in a natively integrated FIPS 140-2 level 3 certified HSM, available on-premises or SaaS. Fortanix says DSM SaaS provides secure key management and cryptography service across public, private, hybrid or multicloud environments. Fortanix says it can encrypt data across databases, virtual machines, filesystems, and multi-cloud. Fortanix offers data tokenization, which replaces sensitive data to prevent data exposure. Fortanix proposes Key Insight as a key management and inventory tool that provides visibility and simplifies security controls across multicloud and on-premises environments.^[5][6]

Fortanix addresses quantum risk by helping customers find vulnerable cryptography, prioritize the risk, and migrate to NIST post-quantum algorithms with crypto agility built in. Fortanix says this is meant to stay ahead of harvest-now, decrypt-later attacks that target the data and AI customers protect today. Fortanix describes an approach to HSM modernization that removes legacy HSMs from service as they reach the end of their useful life.^[3][7]

Fortanix says customers can deploy as SaaS, on-premises, or air-gapped. Fortanix says its platform helps customers meet GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS and DORA, with FIPS-validated key protection, centralized audit trails, and cryptographic attestation. Fortanix says its unified platform enables financial organizations and their ICT providers to identify at-risk services, prioritize remediation efforts, and safeguard sensitive data across all layers and systems. Fortanix says that, as data flows between different clouds and datacenters, it is critical to apply zero trust security at the data layer by using encryption. Fortanix describes how to implement the data pillar recommendations of the Zero Trust Maturity Model from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).^[3][5][8]

A healthcare example Fortanix describes is BeeKeeperAI, which was created at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Center for Digital Health Innovation (CDHI), and accelerates the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in healthcare. Fortanix says its Confidential Computing technology, combined with data at rest protection, lets healthcare organizations protect e-PHI and the intellectual property in AI algorithms, even on untrusted infrastructure. Fortanix says it makes it possible to enroll computing resources, in the cloud or on-premises, and deploy existing applications within a secure TEE in minutes.^{[1][3][5][9][10]}