Data security is becoming a bigger concern for businesses of all sizes and across all industries. Over the last year, the number of data breaches has skyrocketed as hackers find new ways to break into company networks and steal their private company and customer information. With the threat of cybercrime on the rise, protecting sensitive data has become more important than ever before. One of the most valuable ways of increasing network security is through data loss prevention solutions.

What is Data Loss Prevention (DLP)?

Data loss prevention is a type of software that prevents users from both outside and inside a company network from stealing private data at rest, in motion and in use. This data could include a variety of sensitive information, including private company information, patient health information, customer financial information and intellectual property. Aside from protecting this type of sensitive data, data loss prevention solutions also monitor how this data is used and who is using it. By keeping track of threats from the outside and usage within the network, the threat of security breaches decreases significantly, providing more secure data delivery methods and file transfer services.

Data at Rest, Data in Motion and Data in Use

As was mentioned above, data loss prevention solutions monitor data at rest, in motion and in use, but what is the difference between these three categories? Data at rest refers to information that is stored on a company’s network, hard drive or external storage devices, such as a zip drive or CD. DLP software can create a set of guidelines that governs how and when data at rest is stored, like ensuring that it is always encrypted, only stored on certain devices and only shared with certain authorized users.

Data in motion refers to any data files that are in transit over a company network or over the Internet. This includes instant messaging, emails and easy file transfer methods to name a few. DLP software can block, filter and integrate proxies in order to keep track of data going into and out of the company network and prevent data in motion from being compromised as it travels between servers.

Finally, data in use refers to any information that is either being created, edited or looked at. This type of data is also vulnerable to security breaches, making it necessary to protect data at different endpoints. Since employees often view company information on devices outside of the network, such as personal laptops or mobile devices, it can be difficult to protect data at all of these different endpoints. DLP solutions can be setup to monitor data both over the network and outside of the network to keep information safe on devices even when they leave the office.

Securing sensitive data is critical for companies in order to protect their private information and their customers’ private information. Data loss prevention solutions provide an easy way for companies to reduce the threat of a security breach and ensure they are protected from the threat of cybercrime. See this link for more references.