Data breaches are a growing risk to organizations of all sizes. They can result from malware, phishing attacks, or compromised privileged accounts. They can also result from accidental data sharing by employees or the theft of devices with sensitive information. Data Loss Prevention is an approach that enables you to reduce your risks by monitoring and limiting the flow of sensitive data out of your network.
Data inventory
What is DLP in security? DLP in security is software that detects sensitive data moving across the network and blocks or halts it if it leaves protected perimeters. A data inventory is the core of any robust data governance program. It helps organizations understand their data and its location within the enterprise systems. It also allows them to set policies and procedures for handling it. This process is essential for determining the type of data that should be protected. A complete inventory should include all the information collected, including data held by third parties. The process can help businesses mitigate privacy regulatory risks and reduce costs. A good data inventory will contain a list of all an organization’s information, including its location and how it is used. It will also include a description of each data element. It will also identify the source of each data element, the owner, and any restrictions that may apply. This will allow the company to protect its sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Data classification
Data classification is a crucial aspect of a security strategy. It helps organizations determine which types of data require more excellent protection and how long they need to be retained to minimize the risk of exposure. This allows companies to establish policies that protect sensitive information, such as ensuring that PII is not retained for more than necessary and limiting access to other data. It also helps them establish retention policies, including how long to store data before it is deleted. It is impossible to deploy enough security resources to keep every piece of data safe, so classifying data into different categories helps prioritize what to protect.
Data protection
Data protection is a critical component of security. It protects information from unauthorized access, alteration, and loss through encryption, masking, and erasure. These technologies work together to provide the highest level of security for your organization’s most critical data. While a firewall and basic authentication can keep out most threats, today’s threat landscape requires more advanced technologies to detect and prevent data leakage and exfiltration. In addition, it’s crucial to understand the type of data that needs protection. The tolerance for risk for each data category must be determined following the value of that information, as well as your organization’s overall security and compliance requirements. For example, a company’s most sensitive data should be protected from exfiltration by using encryption to scramble the data so that only parties with the key can unscramble it. This is also a requirement for some compliance regulations, such as PCI DSS. Other security measures that can protect a company’s most valuable data include security machine learning, user identity checks, network traffic analysis, and other tools to ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive data. This can help minimize the risk of data breaches, a significant concern for many organizations with growing levels of personal information. Other data protection methods include storing backup copies in multiple locations to create resilience and allow recovery from a data breach or disaster.
Data Sharing
Data is everywhere, coming from multiple software applications and devices. Collecting, analyzing, and sharing data provides a competitive edge. Data sharing increases the speed at which an organization can respond to market changes and allows for more accurate predictive analytics. The data-driven culture also leads to a more agile business model and improved customer service. While it is essential to share information, companies must be mindful of the risks that come with it. Data breaches can occur due to external attackers or internal threats like a disgruntled employee. As the number of breaches continues to rise, it is more important than ever for companies to focus on their security strategy. The key to protecting sensitive information is data identification. It is critical to determine the type of data that should be protected, including PII (personally identifiable information). This can be done by implementing best practices and data loss prevention tools. Another benefit of DLP is that it prevents employees from sending sensitive information outside the company network. This ensures that no one can accidentally or maliciously send information to unauthorized recipients. A managed DLP platform can detect and stop data exfiltration from various threats, including ransomware and other malware. It can also help organizations reduce their attack surface by blocking access to consumer cloud storage services and endpoint devices.
