Keeping your Sensitive Data Safe from Leaks

Employees are the pillar of your organization, but they’re also the biggest risk to the very data that makes your business thrive…

Whether in the form of a malicious insider that attempts to take your confidential data for personal gain, or just inadvertent employees that don’t know how to  handle confidential data thereby putting it at risk, insiders significantly contribute to data loss.

Undeniably, data is vital in every business transaction…

In a typical retail environment, for example, the facts and figures that a company processes every day —from customer detail, prices, orders to payment dates of every sales transaction—are considered as raw data. Each of these raw data will then be recorded and will be gathered to be studied by looking at each sale in isolation. In this case, the data now becomes information after it has been processed to add context, relevance and purpose. The analysis of daily sales will then reveal trends and patterns, such as peak shopping days or bestseller items which becomes a great contributor in the retail store’s decision making.

That’s how it works for a typical retail store. But in larger enterprises, and companies that deal with sensitive and confidential data, it might require more complex processes, all the more requiring companies to extend their data protection, for small and large enterprises alike.

Data loss: Why do we need to protect data?

A data loss, the intentional or unintentional release of secure or confidential information to an untrusted environment, is a major inconvenience that disrupts the day-to-day function of any information-based business.

It can be lost from malicious insiders, insecure practices of business partners or even from employees inadvertently and innocently sharing it or sending it by mistake.

Failing to protect organization’s data could induce quite a number of catastrophic consequences.

Simply put, data loss ain’t just simply data loss, but could also bring in operational disruption, reputation loss and liability which would all equate to the business’ value losses:

 

Operations. Operational disruption, which can cause business downtime as well as serious public safety issues, is difficult to quantify but includes unplanned expenses, increased staffing, inability to deliver goods and services, and excessive or new R&D costs.

 

 

 

Reputation. Reputation impact, although difficult to quantify, is often the second most affected aspect of the business following a compromise – second only to value. According to Cisco, half of organizations that were breached expended significant resources to actively manage the reputation and 42% of them lost nearly 20% of their existing customer base. Moreover, a detailed study by Deloitte uncovered that new customer acquisition decreased by as much as 50%.

 

 

 

Liability. Liability refers to the external costs that are levied on an organization. Liability costs include compliance fines, breach notification costs, increased insurance costs, and litigation costs including attorney fees.

 

Value. And lastly, value refers to the monetary qualities of the business. In an event of a data loss, the value of the data is often what most companies initially measure to be the determinant of the intensity of the said attack.

And most likely, this could also serve as a determinant whether a company could still resiliently stand after

 

 

 

How do we protect our data then?

According to studies, 53% of respondents say damage caused by insider attacks is more severe than damage from outsider attacks.

Insider threats are also more difficult to prevent as insiders don’t always threaten the company’s data security intentionally. In fact, many data breaches resulting from insider threats are completely unintentional.

So what do I need?

In a business, data and employees together are both vital in a company’s success. That’s why removing any single one of them, for the sake of security, does not really equate to success in terms of business operations.

What you need is a tool that let’s your employees collaborate safely and securely with your partner companies, customers, clients and co-employees without compromising security while making sure your data are always in safe hands! – DLP

Data Leak/ Loss Prevention: The Key to keep your data safe…

What is DLP?

Data loss prevention (DLP) is a tool that ensures sensitive or critical data is not leaked outside the organization, either accidentally or maliciously. DLP software classifies and tracks data to prevent it from leaving the network via unauthorized channels. These solutions detect leakage and exfiltration by monitoring sensitive data while it’s in use, in motion, and at rest.

It has many names, from “data loss prevention” and “data leakage prevention” to the brief “DLP,” but regardless of which term you use, this objective and its network tools are designed for one major task: detect and prevent unauthorized transmission of your data to outside parties.

Data loss prevention (DLP) is critical to stop accidental and malicious data leaks—whether it’s customer information, financial data, intellectual property or trade secrets. Today’s enterprise must be able to identify, track, and secure all confidential data at rest, in use, and in motion.

 

With DLP, you can do the following:

Classify your data based on sensitivity.Configure policies to classify, label, and protect data based on its sensitivity. Classification with Azure Information Protection is fully automatic, driven by users, or based on recommendation.

Protect your data at all times. Add classification and protection information for persistent protection that follows your data—ensuring it remains protected regardless of where it’s stored or who it’s shared with.

Add visibility and control. Track activities on shared data and revoke access if necessary. Your IT team can use powerful logging and reporting to monitor, analyze, and reason over data.

Collaborate more securely with others.Share data safely with coworkers as well as your customers and partners. Define who can access data and what they can do with it—such as allowing to view and edit files, but not print or forward.

Ease of use. Data classification and protection controls are integrated into Microsoft Office and common applications to secure the data you’re working on with one click. In-product notifications such as recommended classification help users make right decisions.

Deployment and management flexibility. Help protect your data whether it’s stored in the cloud or in on-premises infrastructures. You have the flexibility to choose how your encryption keys are managed, including Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) and Hold Your Own Key (HYOK) options.

 

 

Not sure about how you can start implementing DLP? or not sure what policies to implement? Contact us!

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Don’t be a victim!

The ever-evolving risk landscape is becoming more challenging to manage. With data loss, prevention is always better than recovering after a breach.

Today’s common threats are accelerating together with digital transformation. Data loss through social media, consumerization, cyber crime and internal threats represent increasing business risks. That’s why implementing effective DLP policies will help your business achieve competitive advantages in the marketplace.