Virtru and Ohalo Partner to Deliver AI-Driven Data Discovery, Classification, and Governance for Sensitive Unstructured Data
New Joint Solution Bridges Data Discovery and Persistent Enforcement, Automating Classification-to-Encryption for Federal Agencies and Regulated Enterprises
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtru, the leader in data-centric security, and Ohalo, the enterprise file governance company, today announced the availability of their integrated solution that automatically discovers, classifies, labels, and encrypts sensitive data at scale.
The integration connects the AI-driven classification capabilities of Ohalo Data X-Ray with the Virtru Data Security Platform, enabling organizations to remediate years of unprotected files across shared drives, federal repositories, and hybrid-cloud environments in a single automated operation. Once remediated, protected files remain governed and controlled by data owners, regardless of where they travel.
Traditional data security approaches create a dangerous gap between knowing where sensitive data lives and actually protecting it. Organizations invest heavily in data discovery and classification tools, yet sensitive files remain exposed across contractor laptops, partner networks, and downstream systems once shared. The Virtru + Ohalo integration eliminates this gap by automatically triggering persistent protection the moment files meet policy criteria — transforming static inventories into continuous, automated protection.
Discover with Ohalo, Govern with Virtru
The Virtru + Ohalo integration closes the gap between data discovery and data protection through a seamless, automated pipeline:
- Discover, Classify and Label: Data X-Ray scans documents at hundreds of thousands of words per second, classifying what is inside using three layers: Natural language processing and machine learning for semantic precision, generative AI for document-level context, and your own rules for sensitivity and business logic, moving beyond simple keyword matching to truly understand what data contains. Every file is labeled automatically as part of the same pass, replacing manual labeling that is neither trustworthy nor scalable at enterprise volumes.
- Encrypt and Protect: Once Data X-Ray classifies and labels sensitive files, the integration automatically converts them to the Trusted Data Format (TDF), wrapping each object in encryption and a granular access policy that travels with the data. The Virtru + Ohalo solution inherits classification tags and sensitivity markers to trigger corresponding TDF policies, maintaining consistent protection across the data lifecycle.
- Govern Continuously: Virtru enforces persistent access controls on every protected object, requiring both human and non-human entities to authenticate before decrypting — ensuring data remains fully under the owner's control wherever it travels, with the ability to revoke or update access at any time.
- Maintain Compliance: The solution addresses critical challenges for organizations subject to CMMC Level 2, NIST SP 800-171, and CUI protection requirements, as well as regulated enterprises navigating HIPAA, GDPR, and FTC Safeguards Rule obligations.
“Organizations need to protect data at the object level, with security and governance controls that remain attached to each file throughout its lifecycle,” said John Ackerly, CEO and Co-Founder of Virtru. “Our partnership with Ohalo makes that possible by connecting intelligent discovery and classification directly to persistent TDF-based protection. Together, we’re enabling customers to continuously govern sensitive data, update access policies as context changes, and maintain agency over their information, wherever it travels.”
The integration enables organizations to encrypt massive backlogs of legacy files in a single automated workflow — solving the "cold start" problem that has stalled many governance initiatives. When policies or sensitive terms change, Data X-Ray can re-crawl data sources and re-encrypt files with updated attributes. A built-in dry run capability allows administrators to test encryption and decryption behavior before applying changes across their entire data estate.
"Organizations are drowning in unstructured data scattered across air-gapped, on-premise, and hybrid-cloud environments," said Kyle DuPont, CEO and Co-Founder of Ohalo. "A label is only as good as what's behind it, and labels applied by hand or inherited from metadata are neither trustworthy nor scalable. Data X-Ray opens every file, classifies and labels what is actually inside it, not just what the metadata claims. That is the foundation modern data security demands. By partnering with Virtru, we're enabling our customers to move beyond static inventories to active, persistent protection that extends everywhere the data travels. This integration ensures that classification drives enforcement, and enforcement stays current with classification, creating a continuous security loop that adapts to mission and threat context, both internally and externally."
At the core of this integration is the Trusted Data Format (TDF), an open interoperability standard for data-centric security invented by Virtru Co-Founder Will Ackerly during his tenure at the National Security Agency. TDF has been adopted as the data protection standard for national defense and intelligence missions across the United States and allied partners globally, with the Intelligence Community standardizing classification and control markings within the TDF specification.
The Zero Trust Data Format (ZTDF), derived from TDF, is the first interoperable data security standard that bridges the gap between the US IC/DOW and existing NATO STANAGs — making the Virtru + Ohalo integration directly relevant to coalition environments where interoperability is mission-critical.
The Virtru + Ohalo integration is available for qualifying defense, intelligence, federal civilian, and enterprise organizations. To request a demo and learn more about automating classification-to-encryption workflows, visit www.virtru.com/partners/technology/ohalo or contact sales@virtru.com.
Technical & Compliance Details
The solution integrates through Ohalo Data X-Ray's admin console, which connects directly to the Virtru Data Security Platform via secure credentials. Administrators configure ABAC namespace and attribute selection in a single setup, with dry run validation before full deployment. The integration supports S3-compatible or on-premise object storage, and works seamlessly with OIDC/OAuth2 identity providers including Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, and Ping Identity.
Virtru's defense-in-depth architecture with client-side encryption ensures Virtru never accesses plaintext data. The Virtru Data Security Platform is FedRAMP Moderate authorized and FIPS 140-2 validated (VirtruCrypto module #4440), supporting compliance with NIST SP 800-171, HIPAA, GDPR Article 32, and other regulatory frameworks. Customer-controlled key management addresses data residency requirements under GDPR and state privacy laws.
About Virtru
Virtru empowers organizations to unlock the power of data while maintaining control wherever it's stored and shared. Trusted by over 6,000 organizations across the public and private sectors — including JPMorganChase, Equifax, Capital One, Salesforce, and the U.S. Department of War — Virtru's Data Security Platform has created a new paradigm in data-centric security, where protection travels with the data itself rather than relying on traditional perimeter defenses. Built on the Trusted Data Format (TDF), an open standard, the platform embeds access policies directly into the data and enforces them at every point of interaction. To learn more, visit virtru.com.
About Ohalo
Ohalo is an enterprise file governance company. Most enterprise information lives in files like documents, PDFs, emails, and contracts, yet the tools meant to govern them only read the labels, never the contents. Data X-Ray opens every file, reads what is inside, and classifies it, then feeds the results into your AI, compliance, and security systems. It all runs inside your own environment without moving data, whether on-prem, cloud, or air-gapped. Trusted by the Fortune 500, financial institutions, defense agencies, and critical infrastructure operators worldwide. Learn more at www.ohalo.co
Media Contacts:
Nick Michael
nick.michael@virtru.com
Carolyn Branco
media@ohalo.co
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