Palisade Systems' CEO Christian Renaud recently took part in a webinar about Data Loss Prevention, hosted by analysts the Radicati Group.
Christian described the features that companies should look for when shopping for a DLP solution. Companies need to ensure the tool can protect "data in motion" -- information leaving the company network through e-mail, the Web, instant messaging, and other channels. And the solution also needs to protect "data at rest," which is stored on company desktops and servers. The solution should be easy to install and get running, with the ability to make changes to the configuration and fine-tune over time as the IT manager becomes more aware of the organization's needs. Also, the solution needs robust reporting, to help the organization get a handle on what's happening on its network. Reporting can also help get organizational buy-in for security measures, by demonstrating need.
And the solution needs flexibility, the ability to fingerprint proprietary information such as source code, or an NFL team's playbook, to ensure that information doesn't get sent out over the network.
The solution should be port- and protocol-independent. Earlier DLP solutions focused on particular ports and protocols, which often resulted in data leaks simply shifting to other channels. "Traffic is wiggly that way, it is a little squirrely, you have to look at all the traffic and identify people who are trying to circumvent the system," Christian said.
IT staff often make the same mistakes in deploying DLP. Palisades' customers are typically small organizations, with IT staff understaffed and under-resourced. They don't have the time to plan ahead and determine what data needs protecting, and how to get corporate buy-in for DLP efforts, making sure there are plans in place for what to do when a data leak is detected.
"Having that plan ahead of time on how you're going to roll it out -- not just put in the box and walk away -- and how you're going to deal with the losses you find, are some of the things organizations haven't considered," Christian said.
Christian was joined by representatives of two other DLP vendors.
Find out more about product offerings, organizational awareness of the need for DLP, how DLP fits into an overall security strategy, how DLP is affected by privacy rules, and more.
Get the slides and recording of the webinar on data loss prevention from the Radicati Group.
Palisade's PacketSure™ Data Loss Prevention appliance can help secure confidential data on the network. View a video demo, or get a live demo, or get a free Secure Assessment.