The ongoing requirement for greater mobility has unfortunately brought with it a host of security risks, with data theft and loss appearing to be endemic across all sectors today. Since 2005, more than 230 million records in the USA alone have been lost or stolen, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, many of them stored on portable devices. In the UK in one single case, the Revenue & Customs department lost the details of 25 million individuals after two disks went missing in the mail.
Regular reports of theft of confidential data from financial institutions and companies, as well as government departments misplacing personal data, are likely to be only the tip of the iceberg. The reality is that in the majority of organisations today, there is little or no control of highly sensitive data: IT staff are allowed uncontrolled access to systems containing sensitive data; the data is frequently unsecured within the organisation; and there is a lack of control of how data is moved both intra- and inter-company.
The consequences of accidental and deliberate data leaks can be severe. Theft of intellectual property, trade secrets and proprietary information, including confidential business plans, can result in the potential loss of sales or first mover advantage. In addition, loss of sensitive customer or employee data can result in potential legal action or irreparable to public image.
The rapidly increasing number of security breaches and data loss incidents is consequently driving organisations to implement data loss prevention (DLP) solutions as part of their overall endpoint security systems, in order to prevent sensitive information from making its way out of the corporate network.
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