The world is ripe with hackers and scammers who want to destroy and steal from companies big and small. Some are looking to steal identities, money and information. Others are malicious competing businesses wanting to get ahead of you.
Sometimes the misplacement of data is accidental, but it’s no less disastrous. This is why your company needs Data Loss Prevention — also known as DLP — to monitor and secure any data that’s in use or being stored, and more.
1. Protect Personal Information
Companies tend to store a lot of personal information about their workers. Health records, names and addresses, payment information, Social Security numbers — all things that, in the wrong hands, can result in disastrous consequences.
It’s not just theft you need to worry about if this information leaks, either. Some of it, like personal health information or PHI, is protected under HIPAA. If you’re in the EU or have a remote team, personal data of residents is protected under GDPR. If any of this protected information gets out, the company could face some repercussions that won’t be pretty.
2. You Don’t Know Where Data Is Stored
In many cases you’ll have no idea where all your company’s data is being stored and sent to. Plus, people could be accessing it along the way. You may have an IT team who knows the ropes, but isn’t it better for you know what’s going on even you aren’t particularly tech-savvy?
DLP provides you with an open view of everything going on. You see how data flows and is used, where it goes and how it gets there. It checks everything against your company’s or organization’s security policies and gives you the control of protecting and controlling all data, personal or financial. Your property is your property, and with DLP, you get to treat it as such.
3. You’re Not Protected Against Everyone
Everyone knows that hackers are a threat and accidents happen. Maybe you have measures in place to deal with theft and accidental security breaches. These are external intruders though, but are you protected against internal ones?
Malicious or ex-employees and partners can attack and steal data too, right from the comfort of the organization’s building, software, IP address. And what’s to stop them accessing confidential information and sending out to hackers or worse?
DLP can prevent this. It can stop this information being sent outside of your own network. It can block the transfer of data to discs and USB sticks. It keeps you safe against all internal attacks and tragic little accidents that a clueless worker may have caused.
Sometimes DLP can even encrypt and quarantine sensitive data on the spot. If it senses something is going awry, it’s right on the job and keeping everything safe in real time.
4. Stolen Data Is Worth More
Everyone’s had their data sold without their knowledge, but usually it’s not stolen. A lot of websites sell your information to advertisers and the likes to make money off of you as you browse social media and surf the web, and you accept their cookies blindly.
But when that information is stolen? It’s worth so much more. The Dark Web is a breeding ground for black market data selling, and it’s no joke. There are powerful hackers and other types of people on the Dark Web who can do pretty much anything these days. If people on the Dark Web can sell fake passports that are somehow registered in government databases, what can they do with your company’s information?
5. Everything Is Sensitive Data Now
Well, not everything, but the definition of what’s considered sensitive data has expanded. Even if you had a grasp of what was considered sensitive a few years ago, your knowledge is probably outdated now. So, since your company has more that it needs to protect, perhaps it’s time to invest in DLP.
6. Security Is in Short Supply
There are experts for almost anything, including keeping your data safe and secure. But many companies recently reported in a survey that they were being negatively impacted by a shortage of security talent. Unfortunately, that shortage doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, so the time for managed DLP services is upon us. So, while you’re missing some in-house personnel for data security, managed services can work remotely to fill the gaps. Consider them remote workers on your team, keeping your company or organization safe from external and internal attacks and accidents.