Do you know that every action you take within the organization poses uncertain security risks? Last year, cyber attackers targeted over 34.5% of global organizations. They were successful in leaking their sensitive business data to the dark web. Imagine this happening to you! So how can you stop it?
“Data Loss Prevention Practices can help you identify and prevent inappropriate data sharing or transferring within your on-premises and cloud environments.”
As we discuss why implementing DLP is necessary, let’s explore your organization’s current data threats. Once you know what to do, you can quickly implement a Data Loss Prevention plan in your Security Strategy!
Types Of Data Threats Your Organization Poses
Before the cyberbullies get their hands on your organization’s data, learn about the Data Threats that require your immediate attention:
- Cyberattack: The DDoS attackers try to gain unauthorized access to your server’s root folder and steal sensitive system data.
- Malware: In this case, your system gets impacted with malicious software through viruses or spyware. Malware attacks can disrupt your entire IT network within minutes.
- Insider Risks: This happens when someone from your company attempts to misuse business data. Thus, they directly put your company data at risk.
- Unintentional Exposure: This type of data threat is most common these days. It happens when someone unknowingly allows access to an unidentified user or malware viruses.
- Phishing: In this case, the recipients receive multiple fraudulent emails from suspicious email addresses trying to steal your sensitive organization data.
Now that you know what data threats you currently have, let’s understand the concept of data loss prevention. Keep reading as we discuss how it can protect your system data!
Introducing Data Loss Prevention (DLP): The Definition
It is a security solution that helps organizations secure their sensitive data by preventing unauthorized data sharing. DLP tools and practices can auto-detect potential data thefts and alert organizations about taking immediate action. It also helps organizations achieve HIPAA compliance and maintain GDPR standards.
Data Loss Prevention highlights the following flow to stop data thefts:
Know – Protect – Prevent – Govern
Once you focus on these four parts, you can safely establish a successful DLP solution. But why do today’s companies concentrate so much on data security? Let’s discuss that in the next section!
Why Businesses Must Use DLP Solutions?
A DLP solution is different from manual Data Loss Prevention policies. It transcends the limitations of human oversight as it can provide real-time monitoring of security breaches. It takes immediate action against such multifaceted challenges and secures sensitive information from future thefts. Organizations can easily protect their data in use and at rest by utilizing DLP. That’s why it’s a must-have security solution for every business in 2024!
What Are The Different DLP Solution Types?
As we continue our discussion, it’s time to reveal the three main types of Data Loss Prevention solutions. You may choose one type of these solutions or create a combination based on your business needs. So, let’s explore them one by one!
Network DLP
This DLP solution tracks and analyzes the ongoing network activity and controls the traffic movement to detect networking vulnerabilities. Organizations can use IP safe listing or Firewall rules to set up a Network DLP plan.
Endpoint DLP
It’s a must-have solution to monitor active network endpoints. Whether it’s the server IP or the managed cloud services, the endpoint DLP plan protects every endpoint connected with the same network. It also tracks both incoming and outgoing data that goes through the endpoints.
Cloud DLP
With more organizations moving their infrastructure to the cloud, this DLP solution comes in handy to protect their cloud environments. Cloud DLP solutions can scan and audit the data transfer flows in real time. Thus, these are the best to get end-to-end visibility for all your cloud data.
How Do The DLP Solutions Work?
As you now know the types of DLP solutions, let’s try and understand how they work. The following are the capabilities of a DLP Solution Plan that you can use in your organization.
- Data Encryption: You can use the DLP tools to encrypt application or user data in transit and maintain data confidentiality and integrity.
- User Behavior Analytics: DSP tools like Microsoft Azure Sentinel or Splunk interpret data gathered from user activities to stop suspicious behavior proactively.
- CASB Software: The Cloud Access Security Broker tool enforces security policies between users and cloud service providers to mitigate all data-related risks.
- Data Classification: DLP solutions identify and classify critical business data across diverse environments.
- Insider Risk Management Software: You can use this software to pinpoint the employees prone to accidental data leaks and uncover insider risks.
Thus, the implemented DLP solutions work as proactive guardians to protect your sensitive business information against data breaches and security vulnerabilities.
Explaining The Best Practices To Enforce DLP Solutions
Finally, it’s time to implement a successful Data Loss Prevention plan. This section will highlight various best practices you can enforce to create an excellent DLP solution.
Create A Data Loss Prevention Policy
Determine the level of protection needed by defining the scope of your data loss prevention policy. Specify whether the goal is to identify unauthorized access attempts or monitor all user actions.
Access Control Lists (ACL)
Implement ACLs that list authorized users and permissions. In this way, you can utilize safelists for allowed items and configure them at the file system level to regulate data access effectively.
Classify Sensitive Data With Encryption
Utilize data discovery technology to scan repositories and employ regular expressions to pinpoint and classify sensitive data. Employ data encryption for critical business data utilizing technologies like Encrypting File System (EFS) and BitLocker.
Continuous Data Monitoring
Use identification techniques like data & pattern matching to detect labels and metadata identifying files as sensitive. Monitor for DLP policy violations and detect data leakages to external sources.
Secure Your Servers With Regular Patching
Implement the DLP solution in phases to prioritize the most important events. Implement a service patch management strategy to protect your servers from system vulnerabilities. Also, limit the server admin rights to remove unwanted entry points.
Final Thoughts
When creating your DLP solution, it’s essential to understand where your environment currently lacks and what weak points are vulnerable to security risks. First, secure the data used by your application workflows. Next, protect the data in motion with data encryption. Finally, protect the data at rest by securing your server environment and network connectivity. Thus, you can establish a successful DLP plan for your business!
FAQs
1. What are the main causes of organizational data leaks?
Here are the main causes behind most organizational data leaks:
- Security vulnerabilities due to weaknesses in applications and devices.
- Weak credentials with easily guessable passwords or stolen login information.
- Insider threats due to intentional or careless user actions.
- Malware attacks with ransomware to steal system data.
2. What is a DSP Policy?
It is a set of data protection rules defining how your organization handles and protects sensitive data. You can set the DSP policy terms yourself, depending on what type of DLP solution you plan to implement.
3. What are the benefits of implementing DLP?
You can use the Data Loss Prevention solution to enjoy the following benefits:
- Stop data misuse for Information security (InfoSec)
- Prevent unauthorized access to cloud infrastructure security
- Deliver safe data using cryptography and data encryption
- Set up an incident response plan for disruptive events
- Establish a Disaster Recovery setup to recover important data
4. How can I implement a DSP plan?
Follow the below steps to establish an effective Data Loss Prevention strategy:
- Thorough Vendor Research: Choose a DLP solution aligned with your organization’s needs.
- Document Deployment Process: Establish clear procedures, reference materials, and compliance audit records.
- Define Security Requirements: Safeguard intellectual property and personal information.
- Establish Roles and Responsibilities: Clarify accountabilities, consultancies, and communication channels for effective DLP deployment.
- Involve IT Team: Ensure IT team participation for understanding changes and prompt issue resolution.
5. What is the popular DLP software that I can use?
Some popular DLP software for Data Loss Prevention include Symantec DLP and McAfee Total Protection. There are various other DLP tools available in the market. But choose one that can protect your organization’s data.
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