Benjamin Franklin was certainly correct when he coined the phrase, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This time-honored quote is just as true in today’s world of information technology, as it was true hundreds of years ago in completely different sets of circumstances.
When it comes to technology — specifically, data loss prevention, an ounce of preparedness can go a long way in either avoiding a data disaster altogether, or at least mitigating its impact if a business should ever encounter a man-made disaster.
What is Data Loss Prevention?
Data loss prevention is both a set of software technologies and an overall business strategy. Combined together, and both sharing the same goal of ensuring users are prohibited from sending vital or sensitive data to entities outside the sphere of their corporate network, companies can be assured they are doing everything they can to protect one of their most vital corporate resources — their data.Â
Why is it Needed?
While some of the more obvious pieces of data that an employee would not share with others, such as employee social security numbers, birthdates, and proprietary information about a company’s key business processes, some information is not so black and white. A company may want to list an employee’s name and contact information somewhere on their website so they will be accessible to potential clients.
However, by making this information public, it also creates the potential for hackers to pose as the employee and then attempt to contact another employee within the company, perhaps asking for confidential information. Unfortunately, the unsuspecting employee doesn’t realize they’ve just been a victim of a phishing attack until it’s too late.
Making it HappenÂ
As today’s hackers become more sophisticated, the creation of a data loss prevention strategy means it’s critical for businesses to review every piece of data that employees deal with and determine the level of protection needed. Once a business reviews all the information that flows through their company, it’s time to turn to software technologies to make sure their data is continually protected.
Fortunately, there are fully automated software technologies available that can examine all of a company’s data, along with the organization’s policies for handling each data type. The software application then decides the level of protection required based upon the company’s outlined policies. If an employee attempts to pass along information to someone who is not cleared to receive the data, a warning message from the security software will pop up, alerting the employee to their incorrect action and the software will prevent the information from proceeding any further.
How to Find HelpÂ
While it certainly sounds like a good idea to evaluate all corporate data, devise a strategy, and then find software that will fit within a company’s strategic plan, in reality, it’s a daunting task for most companies. Corporate leaders are simply not so immersed in the world of technology to stay focused on all the new and more complicated ways in which hackers attempt to steal data.
It just isn’t realistic to think a business whose focus is on running their organization in an entirely different industry, has the technological expertise to sift through all their data to determine the level of protection required for each piece of information. And it takes some expertise to marry the right security technologies to an individual company to ensure they have just the right amount of data protection they need.
Summary
If you would like to know more about creating a data loss prevention strategy, we can help. We can assist in evaluating your organization’s data, as well as select the right software applications that will provide the level of protection you need.
Please contact us today for more information.
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