Data Loss Prevention Best Practices
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(Source: Ironport)  Data loss prevention (DLP) is a serious issue for companies, as the number of incidents (and the cost to those experiencing them) continues to increase. Whether its a malicious attempt, or an inadvertent mistake, data loss can diminish a company's brand, reduce shareholder value, and damage the companys goodwill and reputation.
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Vendors of data leakage prevention (DLP) systems claim that customers will avoid integration issues by using packaged tools that encompass all the different elements of the technology, but some early adopters of DLP are already running into serious problems.The DLP market has matured rapidly over the last several years, driven by an avalanche of high profile data loss incidents, new regulatory measures, and IT security industry consolidation. Experts agree that the technology has evolved into three individual pieces, and to protect against all the ways in which sensitive information could be liberated from customers' networks and devices, organizations need DLP tools that defend data on endpoint machines, filter for policy violations at the network gateway, and keep an eye on content residing "at rest" inside various data storage systems, ranging from e-mail in-boxes to back-end archiving systems.While many vendors offer all three breeds of DLP in packages that emphasize integration of the individual elements, most also sell the technologies a la carte, with customers able to choose one blend or another to get their installations under way faster and more economically.As a result of the inability of different vendors' point products to work together cohesively, some DLP providers admit that a number of companies are already facing teardowns of their initial systems because they have become so challenging to blend with other technologies."When some early adopters started installing DLP, a lot of vendors had some of the pieces, but no one had the full product set. So you had a lot of people going after their biggest pain points and deploying on the endpoint or the network, but rarely both," said Kurt Shedenhelm, chief executive of Palisade Systems."Most companies getting into DLP today will take the integrated approach and buy from a single vendor, and the products have matured to address this problem," Shedenhelm said. "But a lot of early decisions that were made based on business issues related to data protection or compliance mandates have led to these integration issues."A loss of endpoint control Shedenhelm concedes the integration problem may only affect 1,000 or so companies that invested in early iterations of DLP, particularly tools aimed at locking down data on endpoint devices. But many of those customers are among the largest and most complex organizations in the world, including financial services giants, he said.Other industry experts agreed that users of DLP technologies offering endpoint device control, with features that promise to block the transfer of information onto USB drives or other mobile storage devices, are likely running into the most significant problems.Companies that started by installing such tools on their laptops and desktops to prevent insiders from walking off with valuable information are now looking to blend those systems with gateway and data-at-rest DLP technologies and finding that integration with other systems is no easy trick, said Uzi Yair, chief executive of GTB Technologies, which markets all three types of the technology as individual products."The biggest problem that we hear people running into is the inability to enforce security policies consistently across the three different areas of DLP," Yair said."If you can't enforce the same policies across all of your systems, then it is almost impossible to make DLP work properly, which is why we're advocating the integrated approach today," Yair said. "If you don't allow credit card numbers to flow across the network, why would you let them be saved to a USB drive? But it does seem that some companies are having this issue."Other industry watchers downplayed the problem and classified such device control applications as mere cousins of true DLP systems, but admitted that the problems may exist."People may have purchased these failsafe tools at the endpoint, and they address an aspect of DLP that involves device control and setting encryption at the endpoint. But that's not really DLP, it's not data-aware, it's more about controlling the periphery of the endpoint," said Devin Redmond, senior product manager of security products and strategy at vendor Websense.Redmond said many DLP vendors, including Websense, have built APIs to mesh their products with those endpoint tools, and he noted that some of the perceived problems with the device control applications is that they cover such a small piece of the overall data security issue."A lot of people who made the move on those failsafes are finding that they won't address the bigger problem, that they don't get into the workflow of understanding the data on the device, which is what DLP is really all about," Redmond said. "Some may struggle to integrate those products with broader DLP technologies, but moving forward I think the trend will be more about understanding data and how it is used, versus simply the type of device that is being used."A minority report Even those DLP players who are considered leaders in the space admit the market for their technologies is only just beginning to blossom.Companies like Websense, and Vontu -- which was acquired by security market leader Symantec for $350 million in Nov. 2007 -- are considered to have the most users of DLP technology today, and they only lay claim to several hundred customers apiece.Beyond mistaking simple endpoint device control and encryption technologies as true DLP offerings, market watchers and customers who buy into the integration problem are overlooking the fact that most companies are only just beginning to work with DLP, and that those organizations will benefit from more mature, tightly integrated products, said Vontu Chief Executive Joseph Ansanelli."We're still refining the integrated suite. We have to do more to deliver across infrastructure. There's still a lot to do there," Ansanelli said. "We know that we need to be integrated into the right technologies at certain points in the infrastructure and then overlay the context of how the content is used."A lot of people tried to do the context thing first. But when people try to lock down the data in only one way, they still have huge holes around what is allowed, whether at the endpoint or the gateway," Ansanelli said. "The issue is that DLP is a data problem, not an endpoint-only problem. If you only have one product like that in place, you just can't get that integrated view."
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Sure, you need to protect yourself, but in doing so, you can reap tremendous business benefits by more active use of the data.
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Tape by in large has proven to be enormously reliable, when handled properly. There are hundreds of ways backups and recoveries can fail, and it only takes one misstep to foul it up.
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Information leak prevention solutions have evolved predictably. First, they identified, and then blocked, sensitive data moving around your networks. Next, the cycle repeated with information resting in data repositories. The latest installment safeguards data at end points. This is especially important for mobile workforces with sensitive files residing on laptops and other portable devices; if the unit is stolen or otherwise compromised, data loss is clearly a major problem.
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Digital photocopiers use hard drives to store data. If not properly secured, they can be vulnerable to data thieves. By the Associated Press.
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For the first time, the general public is hearing almost daily reports of theft and exposure of sensitive nonpublic personal information.  What can we do to eliminate data insecurity?  Download this white paper to learn how emerging internal and external threats bypass traditional perimeter security measures to gain access to the crown jewels-enterprise data.
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Data breaches contribute less to ID theft and fraud that most people think, according to a recent survey by Javelin Strategy & Research. Losing your checkbook or wallet is more likely to put you at risk.
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(Source: Plasmon)  In this white paper, Heidi Biggar of Enterprise Strategy Group discusses the ideal solution that creates a multi-tiered active archive for cost-effective, long-term accessibility to compliance data.   According to Biggar, organizations cannot continue keeping non-transactional data on primary storage systems. Archive platforms make better economic sense. Download this white paper to learn more!
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Big calls for small biz Storage briefing You might think your data is protected, but is it protected enough? There are plenty of statistics around on how rarely businesses survive the complete loss of their IT systems and data, but these days, it's not just a matter of business continuity - it's a legal requirement as well.â¦
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(Source: Arsenal Digital)  When deciding on a data protection solution, budget limits, service quality, and compliance requirements all weigh on the minds of IT leaders. A single overlooked issue can mean the difference between disaster and continuous operations. In this Webcast, Doug Chandler of IDC will explain how many companies have evaluated their data protection choices in today's market and made a successful transition from in-house backup and recovery operations to service-based solutions. The presentation will cover: - Critical factors to consider when comparing in-house backup solutions with data protection services- The economic, technological, and legal Issues driving the increased popularity of on-demand data protection services - What this trend means to your organization Featured Speakers:Doug Chandler, Program Director- Software and Services, Research, IDC Brian Reagan, CMO, Arsenal Digital
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Photocopying wallet information pays off.
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CLEVELAND, Sept. 18  /PRNewswire/ -- More businessmen throughout the nation can now save money on data recovery disaster systems and also worry less about their reliability thanks to an online backup data retrieval product solution being launched by United Computer Group, Inc.
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A reliable data protection strategy is built on two key components: proven, dependable storage hardware, and backup and recovery software tailored to the needs of SMBs. The following tips can help you select the hardware and software you need to safeguard the integrity of your data, guarantee accurate restores, and manage backups without placing an undue burden on IT personnel.
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The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers is soaring to unprecedented levels, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.
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A customer filed a $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy for losing an $1100 laptop she took in for service. The reason, exposure to identity theft.  It's about time vendors were forced to recognize the value of customers' data. I recall how the chief genius at the Apple store in Emeryville complained that they would have to eat the cost of the drive in a deal they made with the manufacturer. Someday they'll have a clue that the data on most drives is worth far more than the hardware, and that their potential liability, if the data ends up in the hands of an identity thief, is also much greater.
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TAMPA, Fla., June 19  /PRNewswire/ -- Computers may have sensitive data that identity thieves would love to get their hands on. Magnets, degaussers, and other x-ray or magnetic techniques do not work, even the large bulk eraser magnets are not effective.