Data leaves organisations through countless channels. Email, cloud storage, removable media, and printing all create leakage risks. Data loss prevention systems monitor and control sensitive data movement.
Classification drives DLP effectiveness. Systems must identify sensitive data to protect it. Manual classification rarely happens consistently. Automated classification based on content, context, and user behaviour provides better coverage.
DLP rules require careful tuning. Aggressive policies block legitimate work, generating help desk tickets and user frustration. Lax policies allow data leakage. Finding the right balance demands understanding business processes and data flows.
Email remains the primary data exfiltration channel. Employees email sensitive documents to personal accounts, accidentally include wrong recipients, or fall victim to business email compromise. DLP scanning outbound email catches many leaks before data departs. Comprehensive internal network penetration testing examines whether DLP controls actually prevent data exfiltration using common techniques.
Cloud application visibility challenges DLP systems. Employees use countless cloud services for file sharing, collaboration, and storage. Shadow IT makes DLP coverage spotty. Cloud access security brokers extend DLP to cloud applications.
William Fieldhouse, Director of Aardwolf Security Ltd, notes: “DLP provides visibility into data flows that often surprises organisations. You discover data moving in ways you never anticipated. That visibility enables both immediate protection and long-term process improvements to reduce unnecessary data movement.”
Endpoint DLP protects data on devices. Blocking copy to USB drives, preventing screenshots of sensitive data, and controlling access to clipboard all limit data exfiltration from compromised systems.
Network DLP monitors all traffic leaving the organisation. Deep packet inspection identifies sensitive data in any protocol. Encrypted traffic requires decryption to inspect, creating both security value and privacy concerns.
Encryption creates DLP blind spots. Encrypted email attachments, encrypted traffic to cloud services, and encrypted files on endpoints all prevent content inspection. Rights management provides alternative protection through access controls rather than content monitoring.
User behaviour analytics enhance DLP. Employees suddenly copying large amounts of data might indicate malicious intent or preparation to leave the organisation. Unusual data access patterns warrant investigation.
Incident response for DLP alerts requires clear procedures. Some alerts indicate accidental leaks requiring user education. Others suggest malicious exfiltration demanding immediate investigation. Triage processes distinguish between these scenarios. Working with the best penetration testing company includes testing data exfiltration paths to validate DLP effectiveness.
Data governance policies define what data requires protection. Without clear policies identifying sensitive data and rules for handling it, DLP systems lack direction. Policy development should precede DLP deployment.
