Topic starter
20/08/2026 6:11 pm
TL;DR: Unstructured data remains the least governed and fastest-growing enterprise data class, with the source article arguing that 80% of organisational data is effectively invisible to current security tools and volume is rising by up to 65% annually, according to Sentra. The security problem is no longer discovery alone: petabyte-scale, SaaS-spread data breaks first-generation DSPM models and forces teams to treat access, classification, and remediation as one control plane.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Sentra: “Unstructured Data Is 80% of Your Risk: Why DSPM 1.0 Vendors, Like Varonis and Cyera, Fail to Protect It at Petabyte Scale”.
By the numbers:
- 80% of enterprise data is essentially invisible to current security tools, according to Sentra.
- The volume of unstructured data is climbing by up to 65% each year, according to Sentra.
- During a recent deployment, Sentra uncovered 40% more exposed sensitive files than its previous DSPM tool.
Key questions
Q: What fails first when unstructured data is outside DSPM coverage?
A: The first failure is usually visibility, but the operational failure is broader: security teams cannot classify content, map access, or remediate oversharing in time.
A: Unstructured data creates more risk in multi-cloud and hybrid environments because it spreads across more systems, borders, and control planes.
Q: What are the signs that legacy DSPM is not keeping up?
A: Common signs include missed exposures inside collaboration apps, slow scanning beyond large storage thresholds, heavy dependence on keyword rules, and alerts that do not translate into automatic remediation.
Practitioner guidance
- Put unstructured repositories into the DSPM scope Inventory collaboration tools, object stores, legacy file shares, and AI-generated content sources before deciding what your current controls actually cover.
- Map content exposure to identity and sharing paths Link sensitive files and messages to the accounts, service identities, and share links that can reach them so remediation can target the real exposure path.
- Replace keyword-only classification with context-aware methods Use natural-language and content-aware analysis for documents, code, screenshots, and generated text where sensitivity is not visible from simple patterns.
Bottom line: Unstructured data is now the dominant blind spot in DSPM because exposure is driven by sprawling sharing paths, weak metadata, and content that legacy tools cannot classify reliably.
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20/08/2026 6:46 pm
Unstructured data is now an access-governance problem, not just a classification problem. The article’s core insight is that sensitivity lives in content, but exposure lives in permissions and sharing behaviour. That means DSPM programmes that stop at discovery will systematically miss the real control point. Practitioners should treat permission visibility as part of the data security perimeter.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 28% of secrets incidents now originate outside code repositories, in Slack, Jira, and Confluence, and are 13% more likely to be categorised as critical than code-based leaks, according to the State of Secrets Sprawl 2026.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Should teams prioritise access governance or classification for unstructured data?
A: They should treat them as one programme, not separate tracks. Classification tells you what is sensitive, while access governance tells you who can still reach it. If either side is missing, the organisation will keep discovering sensitive files without reducing the exposure that matters most.
👉 Read our full editorial: Unstructured data security is the biggest DSPM blind spot in 2026