The explosion of business communications has given many more people access to corporate data. Some of these users can be negligent or malicious. The result is a multitude of insider threats that can expose confidential data with a single click. Many government and industry regulations have made DLP a requirement.
Open any cyber-security forum discussion and you will be flooded with news on data breaches that organizations are suffering day in and day-out. It almost seems like data breaches have become a part of life and unless organizations take technologies like DLP more seriously, they will continue to suffer negatively by the loss and compromise of sensitive information.
Data loss prevention or more commonly DLP is a technology that helps organizations identify, monitor, and protect data in use or in motion on the network, as well as data at rest in storage or on desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
DLP Solution is usually implemented by IT for the business with the close association of various business departments. A DLP implementation necessitates strong upper management commitment and as well as support, full involvement of middle management, IT operation, and business/data owners of various departments.
Having said that, what’s interesting to note is that even today while most organizations are successful at filtering inbound malicious content and ricocheting unauthorized entry attempts, they are lagging in implementing technical solutions that effectively address data breaches.
DLP is one technology where ROI is easily visible for organizations that have a business need to protect intellectual property, patents, research, etc. So, how do you as an enterprise know whether there is a business need for DLP for your organization?
As organizations recognize the growing risk of data loss and the importance of data protection, DLP solutions become more attractive. Although most organizations express an awareness of DLP capabilities, they struggle to make the business case for the product’s adoption, and achieving project buy-in from executives is a key first step to any security endeavor.
Although a DLP project can hold the interest of executives for its sheer ability to support regulatory compliance requirements, the difficulty lies in justifying the project’s costs with the benefits, which largely involve mitigating the risks of information loss and a technical means to protect information from leaving the network. Identifying top security drivers as problems addressed by DLP solutions helps increase executive support for a business case.
Key Drivers of DLP
There are innumerable key drivers that can establish the need for the implementation of a DLP solution. Some of the most popular use cases are – the need for compliance, enhanced property protection, and improved security awareness and training, among many others. So, let us explore and understand some of these needs.
COMPLIANCE
Requirements such as the GDPR, HIPPA, GLBA, PCI Data Security requirement, etc. are steering in a new era of accountability, in which every regulated organization that collects, stores, and uses sensitive customer data needs to meet new standards.
Consequences for non-compliance can include fines of up to four percent of annual worldwide turnover, and instructions to cease processing. Technology controls are becoming necessary to achieve compliance in certain areas. DLP provides these controls, as well as policy templates and maps that address specific requirements, automate compliance, and enable the collection and reporting of metrics.
PROPERTY PROTECTION
Many companies nowadays have innovation and creativity at their core, and it is these intangible assets that allow them to profit and compete in their respective markets. Depending on the sector, intellectual property can mean different things. For tech companies, it can take the form of patents or proprietary source code. For businesses in the entertainment sector, it can be audio or video files.
Intellectual property is often interwoven directly or indirectly with company profit. Taking the previous examples, a pioneering product gives IT developers a competitive edge, whereas the lawful sale of audio and video content or being a trustworthy link in the production chain of that content is how many entertainment companies make their money. The theft or public release of intellectual property can, therefore, be fatal to not only an organization’s bottom line but also its continued existence.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions offer a way for companies to protect the information that is most important to them. And not just the PII they are obligated to protect as part of compliance efforts with data protection regulations, but also intellectual property.
SECURITY AWARENESS AND TRAINING
Once the right tool has been acquired, its implementation and use could assist companies in increasing user awareness of
- Security incidents
- Compliance requirements
- IT problems and advancements
- Legal issues
Apart from these three, there are many other objectives that enterprises gain to achieve with a DLP solution like data visibility, avoiding regulatory sanctions, Secure data on remote cloud systems, and more.
With a decade of experience in Digital Marketing, I understand that content is key to everything Digital today. With a flair for writing and a passion for understanding the nuances of the Tech industry, I choose to read and understand about the things that are making ripples in the technology space and then give a layman’s perspective to things that seem complicated on the surface. I like to strip out the complexity of technology and make it as simple as I can for my readers. Apart from reading and writing about everything under the sun, I have gained a new found joy in running.