Why “All-Purpose” DSPM Solutions Fall Short and Why Purpose-Built Matters

DSPM Solutions have become one of the fastest-growing categories in cybersecurity. Designed to discover, classify, and reduce data risk across sprawling enterprise environments, these platforms promise broad visibility and automated insight across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid systems.

For many commercial enterprises, that promise is attractive.

For defense contractors, however, it can be dangerously misleading.

As CMMC enforcement accelerates and DFARS obligations become operational reality, the gap between general-purpose DSPM Solutions and defense-specific data protection requirements is becoming increasingly clear. What works for “everyone” often works poorly for organizations responsible for Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

The Core Problem with All-Purpose DSPM Solutions

Most DSPM Solutions are designed with a single objective: classify and manage sensitive data at massive scale across diverse industries.

Research shows, leading DSPM vendors focus on identifying broad categories such as PII, PHI, PCI, and generic “sensitive data,” using AI/ML classifiers optimized for enterprise use cases.

That design choice creates several structural limitations for defense contractors.

1. DSPM Solutions Are Built for Breadth, Not Precision

DSPM platforms are optimized to handle everything:

• Privacy regulations

• Cloud data governance

• Insider threat detection

• AI data exposure

• Enterprise-wide risk scoring

CUI, by contrast, is narrow, contextual, and contractual. It is defined not just by content, but by:

• Contract language

• Distribution statements

• Technical data formats

• Program-specific markings

• Regulatory obligations under NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC

General DSPM classifiers are not trained on these defense-specific signals. As a result, they frequently:

• Miss CUI embedded in technical or legacy formats

• Over-classify benign data

• Generate noise that obscures what actually matters

The research confirms that even DSPM vendors claiming high accuracy rely primarily on internal testing and generalized datasets, not CUI-specific validation.

2. “One Platform for Everything” Creates False Confidence

A recurring theme in DSPM marketing is consolidation: one platform, one dashboard, one answer.

For defense contractors, this creates a false sense of assurance.

DSPM Solutions typically assume:

• The organization already knows where sensitive data lives

• Data repositories are modern and well-structured

• Context can be inferred algorithmically

In reality, many defense contractors face:

• Decades of legacy file shares

• Email archives containing untracked CUI

• Engineering data stored outside intended enclaves

• Data sprawl driven by acquisitions and program turnover

This disconnect leads to what many assessors are now encountering: secure enclaves built around incomplete or incorrect assumptions. The result is under-protection of real CUI and over-scoping of systems that never needed to be in scope.

3. DSPM Solutions Do Not Align to Assessment Reality

DSPM platforms are built to inform security teams.CMMC assessments, however, are built around evidence.

Assessors are not looking for dashboards or abstract risk scores. They expect:

• A defensible CUI inventory

• Clear mapping between data, systems, and controls

• Repeatable discovery methodology

• Artifacts that support scoping decisions

Most DSPM Solutions were never designed with these assessment workflows in mind. As the research highlights, even leading platforms focus on detection and analytics, not assessor-ready outputs.

This leaves contractors doing manual translation work — exporting findings, reconciling discrepancies, and explaining gaps that the tool itself cannot resolve.

Why Purpose-Built Beats All-Purpose for the DIB

Defense contractors do not need DSPM Solutions that attempt to solve every data problem everywhere. They need solutions that solve one critical problem exceptionally well:

Knowing exactly where CUI exists — and being able to prove it.

That is where purpose-built platforms like Teramis fundamentally differ.

Precision Over Platform Sprawl

Teramis is not designed to classify every form of sensitive data. It is engineered specifically to identify, validate, and inventory CUI across:

• Legacy repositories

• Email and archives

• Engineering and technical data

• File shares and cloud storage

By focusing exclusively on CUI, a purpose-built approach avoids the noise and ambiguity inherent in general DSPM Solutions.

Designed for Compliance, Not Just Detection

Purpose-built means alignment with:

• NIST SP 800-171 requirements

• CMMC scoping and assessment workflows

• DFARS incident response expectations

Rather than forcing security teams to adapt enterprise DSPM outputs to compliance needs, Teramis produces results that are immediately usable in readiness reviews and assessments.

Lower Risk, Faster Clarity

All-purpose DSPM Solutions are powerful — but power without precision creates risk. In a compliance-driven environment, missing even a small amount of CUI can have outsized consequences.

A focused solution reduces that risk by:

• Eliminating unnecessary complexity

• Reducing false positives

• Making data ownership and scope explicit

• Supporting defensible decisions

The Safer Choice for Defense Contractors

The research makes one conclusion unavoidable: DSPM Solutions optimized for “everyone” are structurally misaligned with the Defense Industrial Base. 

That does not make them bad tools.

It makes them the wrong tool for a highly specific mission.

As CMMC enforcement becomes operational and data-driven assessments replace paper compliance, defense contractors will increasingly be judged not on intent, but on evidence. In that environment, purpose-built CUI discovery is not a nice-to-have — it is foundational.

General DSPM Solutions may promise visibility everywhere. Teramis delivers certainty where it actually matters.