Introduction
The word data brings a flood of technical details into our brains. We all start wondering what all data must be. Well, it is not any math or coding stuff that you think. Data refers to all that information that helps any organization make informed decisions.
What is Data Loss Prevention or DLP?
Data Loss Prevention is a set of tools and processes that ensures that essential corporate data is not breached or compromised. It ensures that the data are not misused by unauthorized users.
DLP software classifies business-critical data by setting company-specific DLP policies. DLP software detects policy violations defined by companies that are often influenced by regulatory compliance like HIPAA or GDPR. After that, it takes necessary actions to remediate the issue. DLP enforces remediation with warnings, encryption, and other protective measures to prevent end-users from sharing data that could put the organization at risk, either accidentally or intentionally.
Challenges to Corporate Data Security
Corporate Data Security is more important than ever today due to the sensitivity of the information it carries along. There are many challenges ahead of DLP systems on the way to protecting sensitive corporate data. The following sections will discuss some of the challenges and possible solutions. Let us look at some of the challenges.
Poor Access Management and Controls
According to a survey, 74 percent of respondents whose organizations had been hacked acknowledged that the incidents involved unnecessary access to privileged accounts. An organization consists of multiple layers. In the absence of proper access management, almost everyone has access to everything. It leads to cybercrimes and data leakages.
Poor Passwords
Passwords are doors to sensitive data and information. Weak password policies lead to data leakages and cybercrimes. As a norm, employees should change their passwords regularly. Also, the passwords should be unique and should not contain personal information such as name, date of birth, organization name, etc. But users do not pay heed to this very significant factor, which later causes trouble to the entire organization.
Poor PII and PCI information protection
Your customers’ and employees’ PII or Personally Identifiable Information, Payment Card Information, ID card numbers, etc. fall under the highly sensitive data category. It contains your name, address and relevant personal information. This can be easily misused by cybercriminals and hackers. The leakage of personal information acts as a major brand-damaging factor. It can hamper your company’s brand reputation.
Data Leakages
Huge chunks of data are shared every day between various channels like social media, email, printers, fax, etc. as a part of business operations. This exchange of information, when not monitored and secured properly can lead to data leakages. But it is also very true that blocking these channels is not a solution as it will cease operations. An intact DLP system can save such leakages.
Human Factor
The human error factor is always there. If your employees are not equipped with essential ISMS information, it can prove hazardous. Studies suggest that a major chunk of corporate data leakage happens due to human errors. Employees clicking on malicious links and phishing can pose a great risk to the whole organization.
Increasing Cyber Attacks
Increasing ransomware, malware and similar cyber crimes pose a serious threat to corporate data. The Coronavirus pandemic compelled many companies to let their employees work from home. Employees connecting to organizational networks through their personal devices encouraged hackers to peek into the systems.
Unmanaged endpoints
Nowadays, employees access office servers and organizational networks through their unmanaged personal devices or mobile phones. This poses a great risk to your corporate assets. It makes your servers and databases vulnerable to attacks. There are many MDM softwares and EMM solutions that can help mitigate risks associated with unmanaged endpoints.
Benefits of DLP
When it comes to data, DLP has become a crucial aspect of risk management and compliance. With so many corporate processes today based on data, managing it and determining what is sensitive is a huge challenge. Let us look at some of the major benefits.
Secures corporate data
An effective DLP tool can provide you assured security of your sensitive corporate data. It prevents unwanted data loss and data breaches by alerting in advance and suggesting possible solutions beforehand.
Secures Personal Information
It prevents unauthorized parties from accessing your personal and confidential data. Thus saving your brand image and reputation amidst users and employees.
Prevents Data Leakages
A DLP tool will provide you with better visibility of your data and prevent data loss and leakages. Any organization can grow leaps and bounds if its data is secure. Also, it makes essential data easily accessible whenever required.
Decreased chances of human error
A good DLP tool improves compliance by reducing compliance violations caused due to unintentional human errors. It encrypts the data so that even by mistake the confidential data does not fall in the wrong hands. Thus, it provides full proof of security against such threats.
Classifies data and Blocks unauthorized usage
An efficient DLP tool allows any organization to formulate a DLP strategy for employees at all levels. It helps classify all the corporate data among users, owners, producers, etc. It sets clear DLP policies based on usage. This ensures role-based and post-appropriate access and usage, keeping unauthorized access at bay.
Managed Devices
A powerful DLP system includes managing what all devices can access corporate servers and databases. The devices have to be registered, managed and monitored to prevent any cyber crimes and attacks.
Many organizations opt for Mobile Device Management solutions to make their virtual boundaries intact.
Closing Lines
Using a DLP solution will allow you to determine what information you have to secure and how. It will help you find out where your network’s sensitive data is stored. Also, a DLP solution will assist you in establishing DLP policies for your sensitive corporate data. It will automatically block unauthorized attempts to copy or send sensitive data.
In short, it will create a strong barrier against both unauthorized outsiders and intruders.
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