What is Formal?
Formal is a security-focused software tool that acts as a programmable reverse proxy for data and infrastructure access. It parses over 15 wire protocols like Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, and Kubernetes to enforce query-level security policies such as data masking, access control, and auditing. You deploy Formal inside your VPC, ensuring data never leaves your environment, and it requires no changes to your applications or code. It's designed to support security teams by automating privacy enforcement and compliance needs, useful for enterprises managing databases, BI tools, AI agents, and infrastructure sessions.
With Formal, you gain centralized control with short-lived credentials, real-time policy enforcement, and detailed logging for every query and session. The software offers unique features like multi-stage policy evaluation, backtesting policies with historical data, and AI-powered anomaly detection in sessions. This makes it ideal for teams seeking to secure cloud data, automate governance, and meet compliance standards such as HIPAA and GDPR without impacting application performance or development workflows.
