BigID finds your sensitive data. What encrypts it after it's found?
PKWARE vs BigID isn't a teardown, and it doesn't end in a rip-and-replace. BigID is a Forrester Wave Leader at finding and classifying sensitive data, so if you run it, keep running it. But discovery and classification map the problem. Persistent, file-level encryption is a different control, and it's the one that protects the data itself. Have one without the other, and the files BigID finds stay readable to anyone who ends up with them.
Discovery and classification are half the job. Encryption is the other half.
BigID does real, hard work, and it does it well. That's exactly why this comparison matters. Knowing where every piece of sensitive data lives makes it easy to assume the data is handled. Knowing where it is and protecting it are two different controls.
Finds and classifies everything, everywhere.
ML-driven discovery and classification across cloud, SaaS, on-premises, and mainframe environments, plus access intelligence, DLP, privacy workflows, and AI data governance. BigID maps where your regulated data lives with the accuracy that earned it a Forrester Wave Leader spot. If you run BigID, you already have the map most organizations wish they had.
The encryption itself.
BigID lists encryption among its remediation options and encrypts its own platform storage. What it does natively on your files is mask, redact, delete, and reduce access. When the job calls for persistent encryption that travels with the data, BigID marks the file and triggers it through a separate encryption product. The encryption engine, the keys, and the environment coverage all live outside BigID by design.
BigID's own architecture makes the point. When it finds data that needs to be encrypted, it hands off to an encryption partner. PK Protect is built to be that layer. Natively, across every environment BigID discovers, including the mainframe and IBM i systems where regulated data actually sits.
PKWARE vs BigID: side by side.
Two platforms, two jobs. Here's where each one is built to win, and where they meet.
| Capability | BigID | PK Protect PKWARE |
|---|---|---|
| Data Discovery & Classification | ||
| Sensitive data discovery across cloud, SaaS, and on-prem | ✓ | ✓ |
| ML-driven contextual classification | ✓ | ✓ |
| Structured (database) data discovery | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mainframe (z/OS) data discovery | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sensitive data discovery in AI pipelines and LLM data | ✓ | ✕ |
| Encryption & Data Protection | ||
| Native persistent file-level encryption | ✕ | ✓ |
| Encryption that travels with the file after exfiltration | ✕ | ✓ |
| Encryption across legacy and on-premises environments | ✕ | ✓ |
| Mainframe (z/OS) encryption | ✕ | ✓ |
| IBM i / Power encryption | ✕ | ✓ |
| Data masking and redaction | ✓ | ✓ |
| Encryption without a separate third-party encryption product | ✕ | ✓ |
| FIPS 140-validated cryptographic modules | ✕ | ✓ |
| Encryption that qualifies for state breach safe harbor | ✕ | ✓ |
| Threat Detection & Access Governance | ||
| Data access intelligence and governance (DAG) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Insider risk and behavioral access analytics | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data loss prevention (DLP) | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI data security posture (AI-SPM) and LLM data governance | ✓ | ✕ |
| Privacy workflows and DSAR fulfillment | ✓ | ✕ |
| Compliance Documentation | ||
| Regulatory compliance mapping across global frameworks | ✓ | Partial |
| PCI DSS 4.0.1 Req 3.5.1 (PAN rendered unreadable) | ✕ | ✓ |
| HIPAA encryption of ePHI at rest (addressable) | ✕ | ✓ |
| GLBA encryption of customer information | ✕ | ✓ |
| NIST 800-171 / CMMC L2 SC.L2-3.13.8 (CUI encryption) | ✕ | ✓ |
| Audit log export to SIEM (Splunk, etc.) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deployment & Environment Coverage | ||
| Windows endpoints and servers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft 365 and SharePoint | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud storage (S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud) | ✓ | ✓ |
| On-premises file shares and legacy file systems | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mainframe / z/OS | ✓ | ✓ |
| IBM i, AS/400, and POS environments | Partial | ✓ |
| Citrix and VDI environments | Partial | ✓ |
✓ Full capability. Partial means limited scope. ✕ means not supported. BigID capabilities reflect publicly documented features from BigID's product site, The Forrester Wave: Sensitive Data Discovery And Classification Solutions (Q2 2026), and BigID partner solution briefs. Independent verification required before publishing.
Note on BigID and its encryption partners
BigID doesn't claim to be an encryption product, and that's not a knock. When encryption is the right control, BigID triggers it through integrations with dedicated encryption and tokenization vendors. That model is real and it works.
It also means the encryption layer, the keys, and the environment coverage all live outside BigID. Closing the encryption gap through a partner adds another product, another contract, and coverage that ends wherever that partner's reach ends.
PK Protect is that layer, built natively: one vendor applying persistent file-level encryption across endpoint, server, Microsoft 365, cloud, IBM Z (z/OS), and IBM i, with FIPS-validated modules and a single key-management layer underneath all of it. It fits the same discovery-to-encryption pattern BigID already uses, and it reaches the regulated environments partner tools often don't.
Your frameworks are asking about encryption specifically.
Discovery and classification map the data. Encryption protects it. The controls are written in terms of the second one.
Requirement 3.5.1. PAN rendered unreadable wherever stored.
PCI DSS 4.0.1 Requirement 3.5.1 specifies that stored Primary Account Numbers be rendered unreadable using one of four approaches: keyed cryptographic hashes, truncation, index tokens with securely stored pads, or strong cryptography with associated key management. Tools that classify data as containing PAN do not satisfy this requirement on their own.
Encryption of ePHI at rest is an addressable specification.
Under 45 CFR §164.312(a)(2)(iv), encryption of ePHI is an addressable implementation specification. Addressable means a covered entity must implement encryption, or document a specific equivalent alternative and justify why. The practical standard for HHS audits is encryption.
Encryption of customer information in transit and at rest.
The FTC's updated Safeguards Rule at 16 CFR §314.4(c)(3) requires encryption of customer information in transit over external networks and at rest. The rule applies to non-banking financial institutions and to higher education institutions participating in federal financial aid programs. Organizations carrying unencrypted customer data on endpoints, servers, or shared storage carry direct regulatory exposure.
SC.L2-3.13.8 and SC.L2-3.13.16. Cryptographic protection of CUI.
NIST 800-171 (the standard CMMC Level 2 is built on) requires cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure of CUI during transmission, and protection of the confidentiality of CUI at rest. CMMC Level 2 further requires FIPS-validated cryptographic modules under SC.L2-3.13.11. Defense contractors and DIB suppliers without file-level encryption on CUI-bearing systems carry findings before the assessment starts.
Why BigID customers add an encryption layer.
There's a moment that happens in a lot of mature data security programs. The BigID rollout is done. You can see everything now: where the regulated data lives, who can touch it, what's overexposed. The map is complete, and it's a genuinely good map. The instinct is that the data is handled, and that instinct is mostly right. BigID took you from blind to fully sighted, and that's real risk reduction.
The gap sits at one specific point. The state of the files themselves.
BigID tells you a file holds a Social Security number. It can mask it, redact it, restrict who reaches it, or delete it. What it doesn't do on its own is change what that file looks like to someone who ends up with it and shouldn't. For data the business has to keep, in the format it's already in, used by the people who already use it, the file stays readable. That's not a BigID flaw. Encryption was never BigID's job. It's a different control, and BigID is designed to hand it off.
PK Protect is where it hands off to. It takes the sensitive data BigID already found and encrypts it by policy, at the file level. The encryption lives in the file, not in the network path. A file PK Protect encrypts stays encrypted when it's emailed, synced to an unmanaged cloud, copied to a USB drive, or taken by an attacker who's been inside for six months. Authorized users open it the same way they open any other file. Everyone else sees ciphertext.
BigID reaches the same conclusion in its own quantum-readiness material. That framework discovers where encrypted data lives, inventories keys and secrets, and ranks which data is most exposed to future decryption. Then it points to where you need to upgrade your cryptographic controls. It doesn't perform the upgrade. PK Protect is the upgrade: quantum-safe algorithms, classical and post-quantum protection running on the same file, and re-encryption in place as the standards change. Same handoff, one layer up. BigID assesses the exposure. PK Protect removes it.
Keep BigID. It keeps doing the discovery, classification, and governance it's a Leader at. PK Protect adds the one control BigID was built to pass to something else.
Every POV starts with what BigID already found.
Encryption projects fail when they're deployed against assumptions instead of evidence. If you're running BigID, you're not starting from assumptions. You're starting from a map.
Start with your BigID inventory
You already ran discovery. Bring it. BigID has told you where the sensitive data lives and how it's classified. We map that to the file types, repositories, applications, and user workflows that have to keep working. Citrix, VDI, analytics environments, legacy file systems, mainframe. Whatever's actually in your stack.
Success criteria
You define what success looks like before we start. Specific workflows that must continue to work. Specific compliance evidence that must be producible. Specific deployment timelines that must hold. Those criteria become the gate.
POV in your environment
PK Protect deploys in a scoped test environment that mirrors production. We validate encryption, key access, audit logging, and every workflow on the success criteria list, acting on the data BigID already classified.
Decision
If every criterion is met, you have evidence. If anything fails, you know before any commitment. The POV is the test. Not the sales pitch.
What buyers ask before they decide.
Does BigID encrypt data?
We already have BigID. Isn't PK Protect redundant?
Should we replace BigID with PK Protect?
Can PK Protect use what BigID already classified?
Does BigID satisfy PCI DSS 4.0.1 Requirement 3.5.1?
Does HIPAA require encryption?
We tried encryption before and it broke our applications. What's different?
Does BigID provide quantum-safe encryption?
You've found the data. Let's make it unreadable when it leaves.
BigID showed you where the sensitive data lives. The question is what happens to those files when they move. Every evaluation is scoped to your specific environment and workflows, and it starts from the classification you already have. If PK Protect can't meet your use cases in the POV, you'll know before you've committed to anything.
Book a Discovery Call →No commitment. Scoped to your environment. You set the success criteria.
