Paid and Open Source Top DLP (Data Loss Prevention) Solutions

Published on: November 12, 2022

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20 min read

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For German Version

DLP (Data Loss Prevention) technologies look at the content and context of data delivered through messaging apps like email and instant messaging, in motion over the network, in use on a managed endpoint device, and at rest in on-premises file servers or cloud apps and cloud storage. In a nutshell, data loss prevention (DLP) is a method that tries to strengthen information security and protect company information from data breaches by stopping end users from moving sensitive data beyond the network.

Modern data storage is accessible from afar and via cloud services. Laptops and mobile phones hold sensitive data, and they are frequently vulnerable to hacking, theft, and loss. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a key method because it is getting harder and harder to keep company data safe.

In this article, we'll explain why organizations need a DLP solution, what features a good DLP tool needs to have, and which DLP software is the best.

Who and Why Need DLP Solution?

There are three reasons why having a data loss prevention policy is critical:

• Compliance: Governments set required compliance criteria for businesses (such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), SOX, and PCI DSS(Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard)). These guidelines frequently specify how firms should safeguard personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive data. A DLP policy is the fundamental first step toward compliance, and most DLP tools are designed to meet the criteria of common standards.

• Data Security: Trade secrets, other strategic private knowledge, and intangible assets such as customer lists and business plans may be held by an entity. Because the loss of this type of information can be exceedingly devastating, it is a prime target for attackers and malevolent insiders. A DLP policy can assist in identifying and protecting vital information assets.

• Monitoring: Implementing a DLP policy might reveal information about how stakeholders use data. To protect sensitive information, companies must first understand its existence, where it resides, who has access to it, and how it is used.

Who Needs DLP Solution

DLP solutions can be useful for a range of people, including:

• If your organization must comply with regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) or HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), DLP can assist in identifying and classifying sensitive information, implementing required security controls, and establishing monitoring and reporting protecting the data.

• DLP solutions help protect data saved on endpoints such as mobile devices and laptops, which are at high risk of being lost or stolen since they connect to insecure networks. DLP can detect suspicious events on a device and notify security personnel that data loss is possible.

• DLP can continuously find and classify sensitive data in the enterprise, whether it is stored on endpoints, storage systems, or servers. It reveals who is utilizing the data and what activities they are doing.

• Skilled attackers conduct targeted cyber attacks, typically with the goal of stealing sensitive data. DLP systems help prevent data exfiltration in the case of a compromise by detecting abnormal data transfers, restricting them, and alerting security professionals.

• DLP systems give you centralized management over all sensitive data assets, allowing you to establish policies, grant or deny access, and generate compliance reports.

If you find yourself in any of these situations, it is critical that you employ DLP.

Sixty percent of businesses are using data loss prevention (DLP) software.

Even though 60% of organizations have suddenly adopted DLP, 40% of firms are still putting their sensitive and important data at greater risk.

According to Gartner, the DLP market will expand by 63% from $1.29 billion in 2019 to $3.5 billion by the end of 2025. In comparison to 2020, Gartner received 29% more client questions about DLP in 2021.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technology is more in demand than ever. Security leaders now have the chance to invest in a solution that is genuinely next-generation in terms of data security, thanks to the expansion of cloud data protection and the integration of dangerous behavior analysis.

There is a demand in many businesses for solutions that can handle data security with a completely hybrid strategy to cover both on-premises and cloud data across various cloud vendors.

In its most recent Market Guide for Data Loss Prevention, published by Gartner, the DLP deployment options that it defines and examines are those that

• Understanding of how insider risk management and conventional DLP solutions have converged to change how DLP functions.

• Analyzing how data categorization technology affects DLP performance and develops into a key element of a DLP program.

• For clients pursuing a vendor consolidation strategy, the integration of DLP with SSE (Security Service Edge) capabilities presents an exceptional opportunity.

DLP Solutions Ranking Lists

In this section we will provide the score ranking list of DLP solutions according to both G2 and Gartner.

G2

According to the G2, the score ranking list of DLP solutions is given below:

1. BetterCloud
2. Avanan Cloud Email Security
3. Endpoint Protector by CoSoSys
4. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
5. Symantec Data Loss Prevention
6. Safetica
7. Trend Micro Smart Protection
8. Nightfall
9. VIPRE SafeSend

Gartner

According to Gartner, the score ranking list of DLP solutions is given below:

1. Symantec Data Loss Prevention
2. Microsoft 365 Compliance
3. Forcepoint DLP
4. GTB Technologies DLP
5. Trellix Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint

What are the DLP Tool Features and Capabilities Should Have?

A DLP system should have capabilities that allow for the identification and classification of data at rest and in motion, as well as the ability to remediate depending on data activity. Organizations should prioritize features such as real-time monitoring and analytics, automated workflows, and tech stack integration to ensure complete coverage and seamless operations.

The three major capabilities that you should look for in data loss prevention software are as follows:

• Finding sensitive info on a network. The capacity to detect and control all of your data at rest is the core of DLP coverage. Because you cannot avoid the loss of data that you are unaware of, any solution you adopt will require excellent data discovery capabilities.

• Sorting data according to its type. Efficiency is vital, and by classifying your data, automated workflows depending on the data's quality and level of sensitivity are established. This makes it easier to manage your analytics by allowing you to view data under select classifications rather than everything at once.

• Immediate remediation. Your solution should be capable of doing more than just monitoring to truly secure your data and avoid data loss. It should also be able to act and remediate, which includes the ability to replace, change, cleanse, or delete data as needed.

What are the Best Practices for DLP Implementation?

The following guidelines are for creating an efficient DLP program:

• Create a classification system: A data categorization framework or taxonomy for both unstructured and structured data is required before an organization creates and implements DLP policies. Confidential, internal, public, personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, regulated data, intellectual property, and other data security categories exist. To help identify the major types of data, DLP solutions scan data using a pre-configured taxonomy that the business later adjusts. While DLP software automates and speeds up classification, humans choose and personalize the categories. Information owners analyze specific forms of content visually, which cannot be detected using basic keywords or phrases.

• Create (or update) rules for handling different categories of data: After developing the classification framework, the next step is to create (or update) policies for managing distinct categories of data. The DLP procedures for handling sensitive data are specified by government requirements. DLP systems often use pre-configured rules or policies based on requirements such as HIPAA or GDPR. The policies can then be tailored to the needs of the organization by DLP staff. DLP enforcement products are used to manage policies by preventing and monitoring outgoing channels (such as email and web chat) and providing alternatives for dealing with possible security breaches.

• Implement Anomaly Detection: Some recent DLP technologies, rather than conventional statistical analysis and correlation rules, use machine learning and behavioral analytics to discover abnormal user activity. Each person and group of users are represented by a behavioral baseline, enabling the accurate detection of data behaviors that indicate malicious intent.

• Implement a centralized DLP program: Many firms use inconsistent, ad hoc DLP methods and technology that are implemented by diverse departments and business units. This mismatch results in a lack of visibility into data assets as well as inadequate data security. Furthermore, employees tend to ignore it.

• Conduct an inventory and assessment: An early stage in developing a DLP program is to evaluate the types of data and their value to the organization. This entails identifying relevant data, determining where the data is held, and determining whether the data is sensitive - intellectual property, confidential information, or data that regulations address. Some DLP technologies can immediately identify information assets by scanning file metadata and categorizing the results, or by opening the files to evaluate the content if necessary. If the data is made public, the next step is to figure out how dangerous each type of data is. Things to think about are the points where data leaves the company and how much the company thinks it will cost if the data is lost. For example, the risk of losing information about employee benefit programs is different from the risk of losing the medical records of 1,000 patients or the account numbers and passwords of 100,000 bank accounts.

• Don't save superfluous data: A company should only use, preserve, and store information that is absolutely necessary. Remove it if it is no longer required, data that was never saved can never go missing.

• Train your employees: Invest in making stakeholders and data users aware of the policy, its significance, and what they must do to protect your organization's data. Classes, online training, frequent emails, videos, and write-ups improve employee comprehension of the necessity of data security and their ability to implement recommended DLP best practices.

• Establish metrics: Use metrics to assess DLP efficacy, such as the percentage of false positives, the number of occurrences, and the mean time to respond.

Figure 1. Best Practices for DLP Implementation

How much Does a DLP Solution Cost?

The cost of DLP is determined by a number of factors. The bulk of DLP software suppliers charges per user for professional services, maintenance, and support.

A DLP solution requires a total first-year investment of roughly $385,000. This is based on a real-world example with 10,000 users at $17.50 per user. Up to $175,000 is allotted for software, up to $175,000 for software servicing, and $35,000 for vendor administrative and management costs.

DLP vendors typically work with VARs (Value resellers). The presented matrix is a broad cost breakdown that can be used to estimate costs.

In some situations, the vendor will publish their price on the internet. Somansa is a cloud DLP vendor that offers online pricing based on the number of users:

$5,950 for a small business with 1 to 99 users.

$9,950 for a small firm with 100-199 users.

$13,500 for a small firm with 200-299 users.

Top 12 DLP Solutions

There are a variety of both commercial and open-source DLP solutions in the market. In this article, we will provide the best paid and free DLP tools. The top 12 DLP software are as follows:

1. Symantec DLP

2. McAfee DLP Endpoint

3. SecureTrust Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

4. Forcepoint DLP

5. Sophos

6. Safetica

7. Proofpoint

8. Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention

9. Endpoint Pr by CoSoSys

10. Microsoft Pureview DLP

11. Open DLP

12. MyDLP

1. Symantec DLP

Symantec Data Loss Prevention is a solution that prevents the leakage and loss of critical data for institutions or businesses. Symantec data loss prevention, which has long been recognized by Gartner as the best product in the DLP field, is the best product in terms of technological development.

Features

Key features of Symantec DLP are listed below:

• Your sensitive data is protected from accidental exposure or malicious breach by Symantec DLP.

• EDM detects content by fingerprinting structured data sources such as databases, directory servers, or other structured data files.

• Symantec DLP provides precise visibility into where your sensitive data lives and moves, including at the endpoint, in storage, over the web and email, and in the cloud.

• Financial reports and source code, for example, are protected by Vector Machine Learning (VML).

• Symantec DLP simplifies the detection and remediation of on-premises and cloud-based incidents by utilizing a single unified policy framework.

• File type detection recognizes and detects over 330 file types, including email, graphics, and encapsulated formats.

• Symantec DLP enables compliance with global data protection laws and regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS.

Pros

Pros of SYMANTEC are given below:

• Combines DLP with user activity tracking, adding functionality

• Automatic scanning can identify sensitive data storage locations

• Provides pre-built temples and workflows for major compliance standards, with excellent out-of-the-box functionality

• A fingerprinting system is used to monitor file integrity

• It is the only solution that supports a single policy across all components

Cons

Cons of SYMANTEC are listed below:

• It could be better integrated with other Symantec tools

• Complex architecture necessitates a significant number of deployment hours and costs

• Feature-richness enables customization but increases complexity

• Because of its complexity, it is best suited to large enterprises rather than small and medium-sized businesses

2. McAfee DLP Endpoint

Identifying and securing your network and offline data is how McAfee Data Loss Prevention (McAfee DLP) protects against data loss. Unmatched protection against data theft and unintentional disclosure is provided by McAfee DLP Endpoint. This security is functional across networks, through programs, and through portable storage units.

Features

Key features of McAfee DLP Endpoint are as follows:

• The McAfee DLP policies assist you in comprehending the different types of data on your network, how data is accessed and transferred, how data is classified, and whether sensitive or confidential information is present in the data. This enables flexible classification with support for end-user solutions from third parties, like TITUS, as well as dictionaries, regular expressions, and validation algorithms.

• Controlling and preventing the copying of sensitive information to USBs, flash drives, CDs/DVDs, Apple iPods, and other removable storage devices is made easier with comprehensive device management. Device parameters can be specified and categorized, including the product ID, vendor ID, serial number, device class, and device name. Furthermore, based on the content downloaded onto the devices, various policies, such as blocking or encrypting, can be put into effect.

• To safeguard sensitive files and emails, use endpoint discovery for local drives and email archives. Furthermore, it lessens the manual involvement of DLP administrators and enables employees to self-correct any compliance violations, such as PCI.

• Improved virtualization support. Enforces per-user policy for multiple sessions and VDIs, allowing for greater flexibility and control over the data that is sent to shared terminals.

• File tagging for time savings. Assists organizations in establishing time-saving policies based on location and application type. File manipulation and transformation are protected by security policies.

• Ironclad IP protection prevents intentional and unintentional data loss by enforcing clipboard protection for both "Copy From" and "Paste To" actions, in addition to the new screen capture (e.g., SnagIt) protection tools.

• Data encryption is simplified because it integrates with McAfee Endpoint Encryption to automate content-aware data encryption policies.

• To meet compliance requirements, use the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) management console to define policies, deploy and update agents, monitor real-time events, and generate reports.

Pros

Some advantages of McAfee DLP Endpoint are as follows:

• Long-standing issues are addressed in Version 11

• Strong interoperability with other McAfee products

• It protects against data loss at work, on the road, in the cloud, and at home

• On any removable storage device, filter, monitor, and block confidential data

• Prevent data loss by monitoring and controlling user behavior.

Cons

Some drawbacks of McAfee DLP Endpoint are listed below:

• The simplest configuration change would cause CPU usage to skyrocket.

• You must occasionally use excessive hardware resources.

• Decryption can take time and get stuck at times.

• It is much better suited to organizations that already use McAfee products.

• The absence of database fingerprinting reduces the accuracy of protecting personally identifiable information.

3. SecureTrust Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

SecureTrust's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solution monitors and prevents data loss across your network. SecureTrust's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution aids in the prevention of such valuable data leakage. It is the outbound content control solution that enables businesses of all sizes to gain complete visibility into all risks of potential data leakage, whether accidental or malicious and to prevent violations from occurring. In the market, SecureTrust Data Loss Prevention was previously known as Trustwave Data Loss Prevention.

Features

Some features SecureTrust Data Loss Prevention are explained below:

• SecureTrust's DLP Solution identifies, categorizes, correlates, captures, and mitigates data outflow. Control and visibility across the entire network DLP from SecureTrust protects against state and federal compliance violations, customer data loss, intellectual property theft, insider hacker activity, fraudulent employee lawsuits, inappropriate Internet usage, and corporate espionage.

• SecureTrust is the industry leader in PCI consulting and compliance validation services. They have more experience than any other Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) Company in managing small, medium, and large complex assessments.

• SecureTrust Compliance Manager, a cloud-based application from SecureTrust, streamlines workflows and communication with their team, allowing your staff to focus on managing and growing your business.

• SecureTrust Vulnerability Management Services, which include scanning and penetration testing, can assist you in identifying and correcting flaws before they cause a data breach.

• SecureTrust Risk Assessment Services provide you with the data you need to make more informed business decisions. Their risk assessments will assist you in developing effective growth strategies, improving processes and policies, and avoiding roadblocks on the way to success.

• SecureTrust Data Privacy Services assist your organization in safeguarding sensitive data and personal information, ensuring secure operations, and complying with privacy laws and regulations.

• SecureTrust Compliance Manager offers a centralized dashboard for managing ongoing compliance. It enables your team to collect and store evidence securely, conduct and manage assessment activities, and track the compliance process.

• Compliance Manager is also a task management system that highlights team requests and key action items, as well as provides an assessment schedule. Its dashboard, timeline, and custom presentation features provide a clear picture of where you are in the assessment process, highlight what you need to do, and indicate when your report will be delivered allowing you to complete the compliance process with minimal disruption to your business.

Pros

The major pros of SecureTrust are given below:

• It includes capabilities for automatically blocking HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP traffic that violates compliance policies.

• It offers automatic encryption, blocking, quarantine, or self-compliance capabilities if email communication and attachments are identified as compliance violations.

• It includes an Intelligent Content Control Engine, which assists security teams in discovering sensitive data. It allows security teams to concentrate their efforts on specific users and systems and implement the necessary safeguards.

• Advanced Content Control, Investigation Management, and Real-Time Identity Match are all features of SecureTrust.

Cons

The main cons of SecureTrust are listed below:

• Trustwave's PCI compliance system has serious flaws.

• A product with numerous customer service complaints.

Best for

SecureTrust is best for businesses of all sizes and with little DLP experience.

4. Forcepoint DLP

The Forcepoint DLP solution is a data leak prevention tool that provides unified policy management with centralized control of all channels or security vectors from a single policy. This provides you with visibility and control over your data, regardless of where your employees work or where your data resides. Forcepoint DLP protects your data across the web, cloud, email, network, and endpoint platforms.

Features

The main capabilities of Forcepoint DLP are as follows:

• With over 1500 pre-defined templates, policies, and classifiers that cover the regulatory demands of 83 countries, over 150 regions, and every major industry, Forcepoint simplifies DLP deployment and ongoing management.

• The Risk-Adaptive protection detects data loss before it happens. Continuous monitoring of risky behavior, combined with the integration of user risk data and policy enforcement, results in zero-trust DLP, which streamlines incident management and eliminates risk. By securing sensitive customer information and regulated data, Forcepoint DLP simplifies compliance.

• It can be used in conjunction with Forcepoint Web Security or Forcepoint Email Security.

• Forcepoint DLP Network protects against data loss via email and web channels such as HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

• It includes the Forcepoint DLP Email Gateway, which is hosted in Microsoft Azure and enforces DLP policies for Microsoft Exchange Online.

• It uses the ICAP protocol to scan content provided by third-party solutions such as Citrix FileShare.

• Forcepoint Data Discovery is used to discover the location of sensitive data in on-premises data centers and cloud-hosted applications. It scans files, email servers, databases, and content collaboration applications like Microsoft SharePoint and Box.

• DLP Forcepoint Endpoint safeguards against data loss via endpoint channels such as removable storage devices, mobile devices, browser uploads, email clients, and applications such as instant messaging and file-sharing clients.

• It detects and repairs sensitive data on laptop and desktop computers.

• Administrators use the endpoint agent to analyze content within a user's working environment and block or monitors policy violations as defined by endpoint profiles.

• DLP policies are applied to corporate email traffic that is synchronized to mobile devices via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync by a mobile agent.

Pros

Some benefits of Forcepoint DLP are as follows:

• Acquisitions by CASB and UEBA drive DLP market change

• A distinct user risk ranking directs resources to the most serious incidents

• Policy implementation with Forcepoint DLP has become very simple for you. The website console's user-friendly interface makes it simple to manage rules.

• With Forcepoint DLP, it is simple to identify and escalate incidents, and you can quickly install policies. Its UI is also very powerful while remaining simple to use.

Cons

Some cons of Forcepoint DLP are listed below:

• An abnormally rapid increase in database size at frequent intervals is a major maintenance task that must be performed on a regular basis. The administrator must either offload the old databases or continue to expand the allocated storage

• Capable of supporting large enterprises but scales down to support SMBs

• A low-cost year one subscription may end up being more expensive over time

Best for

Forcepoint DLP is the best choice for the security and visibility you require for your employees' macOS, Windows, and Linux endpoints as they use IM, Skype, printers, USB keys, and cloud solutions such as Microsoft Office 365TM.

5. Sophos

A complete data loss prevention solution, Sophos DLP offers visibility into sensitive data and can spot any unusual activity. Together with Sophos Endpoint and Email Appliance products, the Sophos Data Loss Prevention Tool provides DLP functionality. The threat detection engine has integrated content scanning. This makes it simple for IT administrators to thwart threats before they materialize.

Features

The major features of Sophos DLP solution are as follows:

• Your sensitive information can be shielded from unintentional or malicious disclosure using Sophos Data Loss Prevention Tool, removable media, web applications, or email.

• On mobile devices, it protects private business email and documents. Users and devices are protected from malicious content and apps by top antivirus and ransomware software.

• Numerous types of sensitive data, including bank accounts and credit cards, are pre-defined PII.

• You can specify data control policies by an endpoint, a group, an email sender, etc.

• With Sophos Zero Trust Network Access, you can have complete control over who can access the data on your network (ZTNA). Very fine controls prevent lateral movement while guaranteeing that only authorized individuals can access sensitive data.

• DLP policy is activated in a variety of situations, such as when content is copied to removable devices, uploaded to web browsers, or sent via email.

• They provide enhanced data reporting and visibility necessary to comply with significant regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CIPA, SOX, POPI, and CIS controls.

• Shared storage and database resources are automatically detected. By locating shadow IT in the cloud, you can protect the data that is stored in SaaS apps.

• Utilize Sophos Encryption to securely encrypt Windows and macOS devices, protecting your data (and demonstrating compliance) in the event that they are lost or stolen.

• To keep your company secure, it makes use of potent next-generation security technologies like deep learning and intrusion prevention.

Pros

The main advantages of Sophos DLP are listed below:

• Installation of additional client software is not necessary

• Simple point-and-click configuration of policies

• DLP policy rules that cause sensitive data to be logged, alerted, blocked, or encrypted

• Provides users with the ability to specify data control policies by endpoint, groups, email, and sender

Cons

The main disadvantages of Sophos DLP are given below:

• It is necessary to reduce the number of false positives.

• Sophos can be resource-intensive.

Best for

For medium-sized to large businesses, Sophos is the best option. With Sophos Intercept X and XDR, Sophos DLP secures data on Windows, Mac, Linux, and virtual machines.

6. Safetica

The Safetica DLP Solution features functionalities for security audits and the protection of sensitive data, as well as flexible DLP modes. You'll be able to see what's going on within your company thanks to it. This reveals how workers operate costly software, print, and work. You are able to manage who has access to the data. It has the ability to analyze behavior. Safetica alerts you immediately if an incident occurs.

Features

The main features of Safetica are given below:

• Companies are shielded from insider threats by Safetica. In fact, 80 percent of businesses experience data loss as a result of careless or malicious employee behavior. With Safetica, you can manage your business without running the risk of losing priceless intellectual property, copyrights, or other data.

• No matter where it is stored or transferred, Safetica will find your sensitive data, keep it in the spotlight, and ensure that it never leaves your sight. It also offers a workflow for classified data.

• Safetica helps you reduce the risk to your sensitive data by identifying insider threats early. As a matter of fact, a prompt response is essential for effective defense.

• Safetica complies with regulations so you can easily detect and prevent regulatory violations, as well as comply with information protection and security acts.

• With data analytics-driven risk-driven endpoint incident detection, next-generation SaaS DLP addresses important data security scenarios. Simple settings, pre-existing templates, and automation based on our best practices support ease of use.

• Quickly deployed DLP with the cloud management console. Simple configurations that an IT administrator can manage with their current tools

• All endpoints, devices, major operating systems, the cloud, external borders, and internal zones are all protected by Safetica.

Pros

Safetica's pros are listed below:

• Data transfers are audited by Safetica.

• Data channel filtering and data discovery features are present.

• Device control features will specify the permitted devices and can reduce BYOD risks.

• It has user activity auditing and management features.

• Additional features include drive encryption, alerts, reports, and many more.

• It is an affordable solution.

• It's simple to use the Safetica Data Loss Prevention solution.

• You can use the solution to find issues with internal processes and put fixes in place.

Cons

The major drawbacks of Safetica are given below:

• When a feature is not functioning, the troubleshooting process is ineffective and problem-solving is very challenging. There is no obvious LOGS screen that demonstrates why it is malfunctioning.

• It has been challenging to install and appears to have some limitations in terms of how easily users can be added or removed.

• Some settings are placed in really awkward places and are difficult to find. Adding or synchronizing a domain, for instance.

Best for

Safetica is best for small to medium-sized businesses.

7. Proofpoint

There are DLPs used in three areas of Proofpoint. These are;

1. Proofpoint Email Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

2. Proofpoint Enterprise Data Loss Prevention

3. Proofpoint Endpoint Data Loss Prevention

1. Email Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

The most important risk vector for inbound threats is email. Additionally, it poses a serious risk of outbound data loss. The risk of an email-based data breach is reduced by Proofpoint Email Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Additionally, it complies with more than 80 built-in policies. It provides you with out-of-the-box enforcement and visibility without the complexity and expense of different solutions.

Features

The features of Proofpoint Email DLP are as follows:

• Confidential information and sensitive data are recognized by Proofpoint Email DLP. Additionally, it prevents email from leaking information outside of your company.

• Protect your data from insider risk, accidental errors, and attacks. Additionally, protect your content across email, endpoints, cloud services, and local file shares.

• You can quickly upload or develop specialized dictionaries or identifiers that are particular to your business. These include the account numbers for financial services, local IDs, and medical record numbers. You can then analyze the email data that is most important to you.

• You can precisely find sensitive data in unstructured content using Email DLP. Out of the box, more than 300 file types can be scanned. Despite the fact that the data is stored in various file formats, sensitive documents can still be fingerprinted with both full and partial matching capabilities.

• Email DLP scans messages for all common types of restricted content automatically. And thanks to its pre-built dictionaries, it quickly detects sensitive data. It reduces false positives for credit card numbers, identification numbers, and many other types of sensitive information thanks to its intricate algorithmic checks that are integrated into smart identifiers. You can abide by PCI, SOX, GDPR, PII, HIPAA, and other regulations by using Email DLP.

• Proofpoint Enterprise DLP is integrated with email DLP. This makes it possible to locate, monitor, and secure data stored in email, cloud applications, endpoints, local file shares, and SharePoint. Additionally, applying common data detectors across channels is simple. You can save time and avoid administrative hassles as a result.

2. Proofpoint Enterprise Data Loss Prevention

The only people-centric data loss prevention (DLP) solution, Proofpoint Enterprise Data Loss Prevention (DLP), integrates context from content, behavior, and threats to provide insights into and prevent data loss from a people-centric perspective.

Features

The features of Proofpoint Enterprise DLP are as follows:

• Adopt a people-centric strategy for preventing corporate data loss.

• Address actual compliance and security issues.

• Deal with all of your Enterprise DLP scenarios.

• Applying common classification is simple.

• Take action more quickly

• Enhance your ROI

• A cloud-native architecture will simplify your program.

3. Proofpoint Endpoint Data Loss Prevention

With a focus on people, the Proofpoint Endpoint Data Loss Prevention and Insider Threat Management Platform manage insider threats and stops data loss at the endpoint.

Features

The capabilities of Proofpoint endpoint DLP are as follows:

• Features Proofpoint Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Proofpoint Insider Threat Management (ITM) manage insider threats and stop data loss at the endpoints with a people-centric approach.

• The products assist IT and cybersecurity teams in the following ways:

• Identifying risky user behavior and sensitive data interaction

• Recognize and stop insider security incidents and endpoint data loss.

• React to user-caused incidents more quickly.

• The information and cloud security platform includes the Endpoint DLP and ITM from Proofpoint. This all-encompassing, contextualized platform is cloud-native and offers visibility and insights across channels. It enables you to create policies, prioritize alerts, look for threats, and handle incidents all from a single console. This makes it easier to swiftly and effectively halt data loss and look into insider violations.

• Quick incident resolution and lessening harm to your company's reputation, brand, and bottom line are benefits of Proofpoint Endpoint DLP.

Pros

The benefits of Proofpoint endpoint DLP are as follows:

• Lower the risk of sensitive data loss and insider threats

• Simplify the response to data loss incidents and policy violations

• Quicken the time it takes for insider threat and data loss prevention programs to start paying off

8. Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention

It is a DLP tool made to assist you in finding, classifying, and safeguarding your most sensitive data. Gain visibility into sensitive data risk across your entire organization with Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention, lower data risk with obfuscation and de-identification techniques like masking and tokenization, and easily inspect and transform both structured and unstructured data.

Features

Key features of Google Cloud DLP are as follows:

• InfoTypes: It comes with more than 120 infoTypes (a master data management enabler) that can be used to scan, find, and categorize data. BigQuery, Datastore, and Google Cloud Storage are all natively supported.

• Tools: For both structured and unstructured formats, there are tools to mask, tokenize, and transform sensitive data elements. Without sacrificing privacy, you can confidently use data for analytics and artificial intelligence.

• Customization: To meet your company's needs, you can modify the business rules by adding unique data types, adjusting the detection thresholds, etc.

• Serverless architecture: Google Cloud DLP's serverless architecture enables rapid scaling without the need for hardware or labor outlays.

• USP: It has a practical API to stop breaches of personally identifiable information, which might be applicable to most businesses.

• Make audit reports and dashboards. Automate remediation, policy, or tagging based on findings. Connect DLP results to your own SIEM or governance tool, the Data Catalog, or the Security Command Center.

• For your business to succeed, sensitive data like personally identifiable information (PII) must be protected. De-identification techniques should be used for data workloads, migrations, and real-time data collection and processing.

• Improve your knowledge of the risks to data privacy. Quasi-identifiers are data combinations or elements that can be used to identify a single person or a very small group of people. Your capacity to comprehend and safeguard data privacy is increased by the ability to measure statistical properties like k-anonymity and l-diversity through the use of cloud DLP.

Pros

Pros of Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention are listed below:

• Using dictionaries, regular expressions, and contextual elements to define unique infoType detectors.

• Redaction, masking, format-preserving encryption, date-shifting, and other de-identification methods.

• The capacity to find sensitive information in text, structured data, files stored in storage facilities like Cloud Storage and BigQuery, and even in images.

• Analysis of structured data, including computation of metrics like k-anonymity, l-diversity, and others, is necessary to understand the likelihood that it will be re-identified.

• New component, the capacity to automatically profile BigQuery data across a project, folder, and organization to locate tables containing sensitive and high-risk data.

Cons

The main disadvantage of Google Cloud Data Loss Prevention is that limits on usage can occasionally be a problem.

Best for

Google Cloud DLP is designed for advanced Google Cloud users who want to scale their cloud-based infrastructure and improve data asset resilience.

9. Endpoint Pr by CoSoSys

A platform for data loss prevention called Endpoint Protector by CoSoSys can find, watch over, and safeguard your sensitive data. It is a sophisticated multi-OS data loss prevention method. It guarantees adherence to regulations. Healthcare, education, finance, manufacturing, and media are just a few of the sectors that can use the data security solution from Endpoint Protector.

Features

The key features of Endpoint Protector DLP are listed below:

• Endpoint Protector's content protection system controls file transfers in accordance with the policies you define. Specific user groups can have all file transfers blocked, or sensitive files can be moved as long as they meet certain requirements. Similar to this, the device control system has the ability to either completely prevent devices from attaching to a protected endpoint or to permit file transfers when certain requirements are met.

• The feature of Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention is offered. This function carries out content reviews and contextual data scanning for removable media and programs like Skype, Outlook, etc.

• Data encryption: It makes it possible to compel USB storage to be encrypted through password access. Features that enforce encryption and manage and secure USB storage devices. Password-based and user-friendly, Endpoint Protector's enforced encryption protects data. It has the ability to remotely perform remediation after scanning sensitive data kept on Windows, Mac, and Linux endpoints.

• It performs thorough eDiscovery in order to encrypt or delete sensitive data as necessary.

• Device management: Based on the vendor ID, serial number, and other factors, it regulates how the device is used.

• USP: The solution provides superior coverage for remote employees, which the industry will urgently need in 2021. Your sensitive data is protected even when employees are working offline thanks to "outside network" and "outside hours" data security policies that enable access restrictions for employees.

For Windows, macOS, and Linux, CoSoSys offers a wide range of security features and products for device control, data loss prevention (DLP), and eDiscovery in addition to the creation of programs for the encryption and improvement of portable storage devices. Additionally, it easily integrates into Windows, Mac, and mixed multi-OS environments, which include Android mobile devices.

Pros

Pros of Endpoint Protector DLP are listed below:

• Endpoint security software

• Either a device, on-premises program, or a cloud service

• Mandatory encryption

• Alternative for Windows, Linux, and Mac that is versatile

• It can monitor single machines as well as individual files.

• Protects attached devices and is pre-configured to check for HIPAA, PIC, and GDPR compliance

• Simple to use custom rulesets

Cons

Cons of Endpoint Protector DLP are listed below:

• Could use a full-featured trial as opposed to a demo

• a free demo of the online version is available for evaluation

Best for

CoSoSys is for big businesses with a globally dispersed workforce like Western Union, Samsung, and Toyota.

10. Microsoft Purview DLP

Microsoft Purview is a data loss prevention tool that locates and assists in stopping unsafe or improper sharing, transfer, or use of sensitive data on endpoints, apps, and services.

Features

Some features of Microsoft Purview DLP are given below:

• With Microsoft Purview DLP, you can get native, built-in protection for Edge, Office apps, and Windows 11 without the need for an agent.

• Gain immediate benefit from Microsoft Purview DLP's cloud-delivered, simple configuration.

• Concentrate on avoiding dangers with integrations based on current Microsoft Purview DLP capabilities.

• With Microsoft Purview DLP, you can stop the illegal sharing, transferring, or use of sensitive data across apps, devices, and on-premises systems.

• Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance Suite includes Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention.

• Microsoft provides complete compliance and data governance solutions to assist in risk management, the protection and management of sensitive data, and the fulfillment of legal obligations.

Pros

Pros of Microsoft Purview DLP are as follows:

• Flexible and unified policy management

• Information Protection and Integration

• Integrated alerting and correction

• Controlled management

Sensitive information is intelligently detected and controlled by Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention throughout Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and on the endpoint.

11. Open DLP

A data loss prevention program provided under the GPL, OpenDLP is free and open source, agent- and agentless-based, centrally controlled, and widely distributable.

To handle Windows agent filesystem scanners, agentless database scanners, and agentless Windows/UNIX filesystem scanners that detect sensitive data at rest, use a data loss prevention suite with a centralized web frontend.

Features

Key features of OpenDLP are as follows:

OpenDLP concurrently identifies sensitive data at rest on hundreds or thousands of Microsoft Windows computers, UNIX systems, MySQL databases, or MSSQL databases from a centralized web application with the proper Windows, UNIX, MySQL, or MSSQL credentials.

There are two parts to OpenDLP:

1. A website for managing Windows agents and Windows/UNIX/database agentless scanners

2. A Microsoft Windows agent that can run rapid scans on thousands of devices at once.

OpenDLP runs on Windows 2000 and later systems. Written in C, it does not require the .NET Framework. It operates as a Windows service at a low priority so that users are not aware of it. Without user input, it resumes automatically after a system reboot. It securely transmits results to the web application at user-defined intervals over a two-way trusted SSL connection. OpenDLP uses PCREs to identify sensitive data inside files. Additional checks are made on potential credit card numbers to reduce false positives. It can read Office 2007 and OpenOffice files included within ZIP archives in order to prevent thrashing when processing huge files, the program sets a limit on a percentage of physical memory.

OpenDLP provides agentless data discovery against the following databases in addition to performing data discovery on Windows operating systems:

• MySQL

• Microsoft SQL Server

The following scans are available with OpenDLP 0.4:

• Agentless Windows file system scan (through SMB)

• Agentless Windows sharing scan

• Agentless UNIX file system scan (over SSH using sshfs)

Pros

Pros of OpenDLP are listed below:

• Web application benefits When finished, automatically stop, uninstall, and delete agents over Netbios/SMB.

• Automatically deploy and start agents over Netbios/SMB.

• Pause, continue, and forcibly remove agents from a comprehensive scan or from specific systems.

• Receive results from thousands or hundreds of deployed agents simultaneously and securely via a two-way trusted SSL connection.

• Make PCREs (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) to identify sensitive data when it is at rest.

• Make reusable profiles for scans that allow for the white- or black-listing of folders and file extensions.

• Examine the results and spot false positives.

• Export outcomes to XML

Best for

Penetration testing consultants, system, network, or security administrators, and compliance consultants are the target market for OpenDLP.

12. MyDLP

The most complete open-source data leakage prevention system available is called MyDLP. MyDLP assists you in preventing data leakage and enhancing your information security practices, regardless of whether you manage a huge corporation or a small startup.

You can more effectively identify, monitor, and manage sensitive data with the MyDLP Enterprise Edition. You can quarantine suspect documents or keep track of each endpoint channel action with the MyDLP Enterprise edition.

One of the earliest free software initiatives for data loss prevention was MyDLP, but in May 2014, the Comodo Group purchased it. Since then, Comodo has started to promote the Enterprise edition via its subsidiary, Comodo Security Solutions, and the free version has been taken off the website. Since early 2014, the open source code has not been updated.

Features

Key features of MyDLP are as follows:

• Web, mail, instant messaging, file transmission to portable storage devices, and printers are among the supported data inspection routes. The GNU General Public License was initially used to provide the source code for the MyDLP development project.

• MyDLP Network: The project's network server, which was used to host MyDLP network services and handle high-load network tasks including intercepting TCP connections.

• MyDLP Endpoint: A remote agent for the project that was installed on endpoint computers and used to monitor user actions such as printing, copying files to external devices, and taking screenshots.

• MyDLP Web UI: System administrators can configure MyDLP using this management interface. The system configuration was pushed to the MyDLP Network and MyDLP Endpoint in the appropriate places.

• Erlang's performance with concurrent network operations led to the majority of MyDLP Network's code being developed in this language. Additionally, Python was employed in a few unique situations. Any platform that could run Python and Erlang could be used to run this subsystem.

• The C++-written MyDLP Endpoint was created for Windows systems.

• MyDLP Web UI was created using Adobe Flex and PHP. User configurations were stored using MySQL.

Pros

Pros of MyDLP are given below:

• Workstation Discovery on Demand

• Keywords for MyDLP API

• Dictionary Presets

• Normal Expressions

• Types of Predefined Data (e.g. Credit Card Numbers)

• Social Security Numbers and National Identification Numbers

• Source Code Distance Identification (Partial Context Grouping)

• Ahead-of-Time Policies

• Partial (Approximate) (Approximate) Matching Documents

• Hashes for documents

• BCC Protection for Mail

• Personalized Content Definition

• Stop and Record Actions

• Actions for Quarantine and Archives

• IRM Efforts

• Native Integration of Syslog

• Adaptable Dashboard

• Simple Reporting and Microsoft Excel Export

• Integrated full-text search with SOLR

• Integration with Microsoft Active Directory

• Integration of ICAP

• Integration of SMTP Gateway

• Integration of databases (SQL and JDBC)

• Integration of remote storage (including CIFS, SMB, NFS, and more...)

• Text Matching Information

• Mail Archive Removable Storage Mail Recipient Information Revision of the Inbound Archive Policy

13. Security Onion

Security Onion is a freely available and open-source Linux system designed for the purpose of detecting intrusions, monitoring network security, and managing log collections.

By leveraging its comprehensive logging features, it may be set up for DLP tasks to monitor and notify on any efforts to illicitly extract data. Nevertheless, as it is not explicitly tailored for Data Loss Prevention (DLP), its main purpose would be to identify possible data exfiltration efforts rather than completely thwarting them.

14. Snort

An open-source network intrusion prevention system, Snort, is capable of conducting real-time traffic analysis and packet logging. Snort can be set up to carry out DLP (Data Loss Prevention) duties, including the detection of personally identifiable information (PII). When setting up Snort for DLP activities, it is possible to create customised rules that can identify and notify on particular data patterns in network traffic that could suggest instances of data loss or theft.

What are the Differences Between Open-Source and Closed Source DLP Solutions?

We compare open-source vs closed source DLP software from three perspectives.

• Security and support: The effectiveness of open-source DLP software is highly dependent on the community and the active participation of its users. Although adaptable, this method requires a proactive commitment towards security upgrades and may not provide the same degree of quick assistance as proprietary options. This solution is ideal for businesses that have skilled technical teams specifically focused on safeguarding data while it is stored and while it is being sent. These teams are responsible for controlling data access and implementing measures to avoid data loss. They continuously make modifications and closely monitor the data protection processes.

  Closed-source DLP systems often include a wider range of advanced security capabilities by default, specifically intended to give strong protection against insider threats, illegal file transfers, and data exfiltration. These solutions, with assistance from the vendor, facilitate the simplification of compliance standards and provide a consolidated dashboard for successfully monitoring suspicious activity and addressing data breach events.

• Expense and accessibility: Open-source DLP systems often do not need any upfront expenses, which makes them appealing to small and medium-sized organizations. Nevertheless, these systems need substantial IT proficiency to personalize and sustain, which might possibly raise the overall cost of ownership by factoring in the requirement for continuous monitoring and upgrades to protect against data theft and breaches.

  Closed-source DLP systems, in contrast, require the payment of license costs both initially and continuously. However, they provide the advantage of vendor assistance for incident management, upgrades, and troubleshooting. This may provide a more reliable cost and reduced administrative burden for IT managers, particularly in settings with substantial data transfers or when sensitive data is housed across cloud services and external devices.

• Versatility and personalization: Open-source DLP technologies, such as those used for scanning confidential information, provide many chances for customisation. These solutions enable security teams to customize the source code of the DLP tool in order to efficiently safeguard sensitive information, such as financial data and personally identifiable information. This degree of flexibility enables firms to continuously monitor and make modifications to policy settings for managing the most sensitive data.

  Closed source Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software, in contrast, often provides limited adaptability but includes user-friendly, pre-set configurations that are well-suited for quick implementation. These solutions, often used by big corporations, are specifically developed to easily fulfill generic data protection needs. They ensure compliance with data security standards and minimize the risk of data breaches without requiring lengthy setup.