March 10, 2023 | By christa

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What Is DLP | Why Is It Important?

• Cybersecurity

Your organization’s valuable information needs to be protected. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder companies are turning to data loss prevention (DLP) tools to secure their most important assets. But what exactly is DLP? How does it work? And why is it important for any business that handles sensitive information? Read on to find out.

What’s DLP?

Data loss prevention is a set of security policies and technologies used to monitor and control how data is handled within an organization. Furthermore, it helps prevent unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction of sensitive information.

The main purpose of DLP is to protect your company’s assets by ensuring that only authorized employees have access to them. Companies have reasons to be concerned beyond only external dangers; insiders are the cause of over 20% of security incidents. DLP protects against the transmission of private data outside of a corporation.

DLP can be used in several different ways. Here are just a few examples:

• To monitor employee activity on computers to ensure that they are only accessing files they need for work-related purposes
• To monitor Internet traffic from within an organization so that no one downloads any confidential data
• To track what types of files are being uploaded onto removable storage devices such as USB sticks or external hard drives – if someone tries uploading something outside their job description, then this will trigger an alert that lets you know what has happened before any damage has been done

Types of Data Loss Prevention

There are three main types of data loss prevention:

     1.Network DLP

Network-based DLP systems monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic for unauthorized data transfers. Some examples include email attachments, web browsing activities, file downloads, and VPN traffic.

    2.Endpoint DLP

Endpoint-based DLP systems monitor data on endpoints (desktops and laptops). Examples include email attachments, web browsing activities, file downloads, and USB devices connected to desktops or laptops.

    3.Cloud DLP

Cloud-based DLP systems monitor cloud services to prevent sensitive data from being uploaded to cloud applications without authorization.

Why Is DLP Important?

Data protection is paramount for many companies due to sensitive data can include financial records, intellectual property, customer records, proprietary source code, and other information that must be protected from unauthorized access and leaks.

DLP helps reduce the risks of data breaches. If this sensitive information is exposed, companies can face irreversible damage, such as hefty fines and loss of consumer trust. In fact, 60% of small businesses that are breached close within six months. However, no matter the size, no company is immune to the risk of data breaches.

Data loss prevention tools also help ensure compliance with industry regulations like PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). These regulations require businesses to protect customer data and keep it safe from theft or misuse by unauthorized individuals. If a company is out of compliance with these regulations, it could face hefty fines and risk exposing sensitive data.

Protect Your Business Data

If you want to protect your company’s data, a good place to start is with DLP. In this way, you can avoid costly breaches while simultaneously ensuring the integrity of your company’s valuable assets. To further protect your business, work with an IT service provider such as LeadingIT to implement DLP, ransomware prevention, and other cybersecurity solutions.

LeadingIT offers 24/7, all-inclusive, fast and friendly technology and cybersecurity support for nonprofits, manufacturers, schools, accounting firms, religious organizations, government, and law offices with 20-200 employees across the Chicagoland area.