Safeguarding Data: A Guide to Effective Data Loss Prevention
Most business processes revolve around data. Whether collecting and storing customer data, categorizing and analyzing internal data, or for machine learning and AI models—data is everywhere. Unfortunately, criminal elements know this too. As a result, business data has the equivalent of a giant bull’s eye painted on its back. For proof, look no further than the fact that 167,245 records belonging to Canadian businesses alone were exposed via data breaches in the first quarter of 2023 alone. Worse still, that figure represented a marked decline from previous quarters, some of which saw record exposures numbering in the millions.
All of this means that data loss prevention (DLP) should be a mission-critical task for businesses of all kinds. DLP, as a field, has already grown to encompass a wide variety of tools, procedures, and techniques. Since there is so much to know about modern DLP strategies, we have put together this guide on the topic. We will discuss what DLP is, the common tools used to support it, and how businesses can create a comprehensive DLP strategy and execute it to perfection.
What Is Data Loss Prevention (DLP)?
In a nutshell, DLP is a catch-all term that describes the part of a business’s security strategy that focuses on preventing, detecting, and halting data leaks, data breaches, or any other unauthorized use of company data assets. DLP strategies focus on three distinct areas of on-network business data, which are:
- Data In Use – Protecting business data as it passes through applications or is otherwise accessed by authenticated users.
- Data In Motion – Protecting business data in transmission from point-to-point inside and outside the business network.
- Data At Rest – Protecting business data stored on-network, in the cloud, or anywhere else it resides.
In some cases, a business’s DLP efforts tie into its regulatory compliance, as well. This is increasingly prevalent as the body of data protection legislation here in Canada continues to expand.
Common Data Loss Prevention Tools
Since DLP efforts are so important to modern businesses, there are already a variety of tools on the market that aim to help businesses with their efforts. In general, such tools tend to share some common basic functionality, which includes:
- Data discovery, classification, and inventory functions to help businesses keep track of their data.
- Data analysis functionality that can reach data that is in any location, whether the data is in use or not.
- Automated alerting functionality to let administrators know when any data policy violation occurs.
In total, DLP tools aim to serve as the eyes and ears of the IT team managing and safeguarding a business’s data. They help to take an undertaking that would ordinarily demand countless man-hours and a large security team into something that the average business can handle with their existing IT staff. On top of that, they do so without having any noticeable impact on business efficiency, operating transparently in the background until a security event forces them into action. The following are three of the most popular DLP tools and platforms in use by businesses today.
1. Digital Guardian DLP
Digital Guardian DLP is an AWS-based SaaS DLP platform offered by the well-known cybersecurity firm Fortra. It features automated data discovery functionality that can seek out both known and unknown data types. It also offers tools to help businesses limit the movement of sensitive data and protect it while at rest or in transit. Plus, it features API access and native integrations with the products of multiple major technology vendors.
2. Forcepoint DLP
Forcepoint DLP is another cloud-based SaaS DLP solution, but one that offers even more deployment flexibility. Users can opt for deployment on their choice of major cloud providers, like Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud, or on their own hardware via a VM image. It features drip data monitoring functionality that can detect stealthy unauthorized outflows of data, and built-in automated remediation functions to block in-progress exfiltration. Plus, it can monitor multi-location infrastructure and works well for identifying sensitive data via OCR scanning and deep data analysis.
3. GTB Technologies DLP SaaS
The GTB Technologies DLP SaaS platform is yet another cloud-agnostic DLP offering that runs on any major cloud provider’s systems, as well as on-premises and private cloud deployments. It features many of the same features as the others mentioned above but excels in a way many others do not. It features a wealth of native integrations that make it simple to integrate into existing infrastructures. It is also one of the few DLP solutions explicitly marketed to enterprise and small business customers. That is because it is a solution that scales quite well allowing businesses to make adjustments as their needs change.
In-Network Data Loss Prevention Basics
Although the DLP solutions detailed above do a reasonably good job of identifying, tracking, and securing business data, they are only a single piece of the strategic DLP puzzle. To augment them, businesses must deploy an array of security strategies and technologies within their networks.
The most important among these is the use of encryption in all phases of data use and storage. This includes end-to-end encryption on all system-to-system connections carrying sensitive data, as well as the use of at-rest encryption. Doing so can make any data breach that evades network-level defenses much less likely to yield anything useful to an attacker. It is also an example of a defense-in-depth approach that should not have any appreciable effect on business efficiency and productivity.
Additionally, businesses should implement endpoint security on all end-user hardware. Doing so can help keep individual desktops and other connected hardware from facilitating a wider intrusion into the business network. Fortunately, many of the SaaS DLP platforms discussed above integrate with endpoint protection solutions from companies like ESET, Fortinet, and more. That makes creating a comprehensive reporting and defensive structure fairly easy for even a small business to build.
Lastly, businesses should invest in employee training to teach them how to protect data and spot common signs of trouble. Doing so can help form a critical last line of defense within a business’s DLP strategy. By having countless eyes watching the comings and goings of critical data, the odds of any successful unauthorized data exfiltration drops considerably.
Reliable Data Loss Prevention
Although businesses now have an impressive array of DLP tools at their disposal to try and keep their data safe, it is still not a subject they can afford to take for granted. In fact, DLP is such a complex endeavor that it is always advisable to engage third-party experts to help prepare adequate strategies and defensive measures. Outsource IT offers comprehensive business IT security services as well as IT consulting services to help plan and execute a high-security DLP strategy. Contact one of our knowledgeable account managers today, and find out how Outsource IT can help your business meet its DLP objectives.
