What is endpoint data loss prevention? A best practices guide

Benefits of endpoint data loss prevention

Endpoint DLP technologies provide four principal benefits: preventing data breaches, improving data protection, enhancing regulatory compliance and mitigating costs.

Preventing data breaches

At its simplest, endpoint DLP employs policies to block data exfiltration, the copying of important data to unknown or unapproved locations, such as email attachments, cloud storage or software as a service (SaaS) resources or external devices. Today's endpoint DLP systems also monitor and identify suspicious user activities, from unauthorized access attempts to deliberate violations of DLP policies – trying to upload data to the cloud, for instance. These protections, coupled with clear user warnings, shrink overall risks and insider threats, limiting chances of a data breach.

Improving data protection

Endpoint DLP technologies protect data by using established DLP policies to enforce data encryption. Properly encrypted data remains protected even when an endpoint device is lost, stolen or improperly accessed. Similarly, unauthorized data movement is detected and blocked in real time, safeguarding sensitive data, even before logs and alerts are generated. Moreover, endpoint DLP delivers additional oversight and monitoring capabilities: Enterprise administrators see who's accessing data, where it's stored and how it's used.

Improving regulatory compliance

Endpoint DLP supports vital data management tasks, including data classification, discovery and strong access control. It also aids regulatory compliance with data security and privacy issues—especially important when organizations face real penalties for violating compliance obligations, including HIPAA for healthcare, PCI DSS for electronic payments and GDPR for regional data privacy.

Mitigating costs

Data breaches and regulatory violations often carry crippling costs in fines, litigation and loss of reputation. A well-fashioned, integrated endpoint DLP system reduces human intervention, minimizing the chances – and impacts – of data loss and resultant costs of incident response and remediation.

Features and capabilities of endpoint DLP tools

Endpoint DLP tools provide multiple features, each adapted to the organization's current needs in a specific industry segment. However, there are common features and capabilities typically considered when evaluating an endpoint DLP tool, including:

• Content inspection. The tool examines data located on endpoint devices and identifies sensitive or restricted information, including financial data or personally identifiable information.
• Context analysis. An advanced form of data interaction monitoring, context analysis generates a deeper understanding of the device's present data, movement and uses. Its goal is to gather a more accurate understanding of data and user risks.
• Data interaction. This tool evaluates ways sensitive data is accessed and used, identifying attempts to copy, move, transfer or access the data, such as attempting to attach a sensitive file to an email.
• Device blocking. The tool enables the connection of authorized devices and prevents connections from unknown or unauthorized devices, including USB drives or external hard drives.
• Discovery and classification. This tool automatically discovers and properly classifies data, applying appropriate policies and procedures to the most sensitive data and lighter control of non-sensitive data.
• Enterprise integrations. This tool provides a range of integrations with other security tools and platforms, such as security information and event management (SIEM) systems, giving administrators and other security staff a more complete understanding of data security inside and outside the business.
• Monitoring and response. This tool records user actions and generates detailed logs of data movement, file access and other suspicious actions on the endpoint device. Monitoring further triggers a rapid incident response when policy violations dictate.
• Offline control. This tool oversees the endpoint device and enforces DLP policies – even when the device is remote or disconnected from the network.
• Policies and compliance. This tool enforces organizational policies that outline data handling, access, transfers and storage and ensures strictly authorized actions with any sensitive data. Clear, policy-driven DLP control aids compliance through proper identification, classification and management of sensitive data.

Best practices for endpoint DLP

Tools differ in features and capabilities, and business needs vary depending on size, industry and requirements. However, there are common best practices that benefit endpoint DLP, including:

• Define clear policies. Since endpoint devices are entrusted to employees, these users must learn and understand clear and comprehensive data handling and acceptable use policies for any accessible data. Employees also must understand the importance of endpoint DLP—what it does, why it's on their endpoint device, how it works to enforce data security and how to respond to data breaches or a lost or stolen device.
• Adopt least privilege and zero trust models. It's common to manage IT resources first by enabling everything, then applying restrictions. Least privilege management works in reverse: Block everything, then grant access based on RBAC, multifactor authentication or other strong authentication methods. This ensures users access only what they need – nothing more. Least privilege also routinely blocks peripheral devices, including printers and USB drives, as well as cloud services or applications.
• Monitor, report and audit. Collect and analyze data gathered from endpoint DLP tools to monitor how sensitive business data is accessed, used and moved. Suspicious or unexplained activities demand investigation and, if data loss occurs, remediation. Also, DLP policies require regularly updated audits to ensure DLP practices remain relevant in the face of evolving threats and consistent with emerging data regulations.
• Embrace AI capabilities. Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance rapidly, driving faster and more nuanced data classification, threat detection, incident reporting and response. AI not only sees suspicious activities with greater accuracy, but it also takes more autonomous actions to block and mitigate data incidents with less, if any, dependence on human intervention.
• Look for security integrations. Endpoint DLP is one element of a larger security infrastructure. Select and deploy endpoint DLP tools that integrate and interoperate with other security elements, including endpoint protection, SIEM platforms and firewalls. Seamless integrations offer a more holistic view of the security landscape while streamlining its management and responses.
• Plan for incident response. Endpoint DLP bolsters enterprise data security, but it's not perfect. Data breaches and data loss still occur. When incidents are identified and reported, an effective incident response plan immediately addresses the event and prevents recurrence. Endpoint DLP incidents are typically included as part of broader incident response preparations.

Challenges with endpoint DLP

Although its purpose and benefits are compelling, endpoint DLP presents numerous challenges that complicate its adoption. Common challenges include the following:

• User reluctance. Endpoint DLP is often seen as intrusive and restrictive – especially when users rely on their personal endpoint devices for regular work. Subsequent employee attempts to override or work around the DLP tool lead to data loss incidents. If resistance builds across the business, particularly higher in the organization's management, it jeopardizes the entire endpoint DLP initiative. Combining employee security training with a low-friction DLP tool and well-balanced security policies addresses most user reluctance.
• Overly restrictive policies. Overly restrictive DLP policies often amplify user reluctance because they disrupt normal job performance. Although zero-trust and least privilege access policies are standard, business and technology leaders must strike a balance between security and user needs to improve both the process and its reputation among employees, especially those using personal devices for work.
• Poor security integration. Proper integration ensures an endpoint DLP tool's interoperability with other security mechanisms. If suitable integration does not occur, the DLP tool often requires management as a separate platform, leading to security oversights and otherwise preventable data loss incidents.
• Problematic data management. Endpoint DLP tools must routinely identify sensitive data and flag improper data or actions. However, this necessary action also impairs productivity, leaving users reluctant to employ endpoint DLP. Administrators must test tools and update DLP deployments and policies frequently, particularly in response to user concerns or complaints.
• Limited device support. Endpoint devices vary widely. Different operating systems run on vastly different laptops, tablets and smartphone devices that often span several generations of hardware and software, including legacy devices. The selected endpoint DLP tool must be capable of supporting this incredibly diverse environment. Unsupported endpoint devices leave organizations with three poor choices: force upgrades for unsupported devices, accept security gaps that demand individual security strategies or block unsupported devices outright.
• Workarounds and limitations. Endpoint DLP tools cannot discern between deliberate and accidental user actions, sometimes triggering unnecessary security responses, while also missing certain insider threats. Moreover, workarounds to circumvent some DLP features render other capabilities ineffective. Further, emerging threats increasingly use advanced mechanisms, such as encrypted HTTPS data transfers, to bypass DLP functions.
• Inadequate scalability. As numerous and diverse as endpoints and data sets are, both often grow over time. An endpoint DLP platform must provide scalability to handle increasing numbers of devices, users and data effectively.

Endpoint DLP software vendors

The following alphabetical list, gleaned from various industry sources, outlines 12 notable offerings in the endpoint DLP market.

• Broadcom Symantec DLP provides comprehensive discovery, monitoring, and protection capabilities for visibility and control over business information.
• Check Point Data Loss Prevention offers comprehensive workspace security, including endpoint, mobile, email and SaaS applications.
• CrowdStrike Falcon Data Protection delivers comprehensive visibility and control over sensitive data at rest and in flight.
• Forcepoint DLP offers visibility, adaptive control and automated protection for all critical data.
• Fortra Digital Guardian Endpoint DLP prevents accidental or unsafe data egress from any device, whether it's in use or at rest.
• Microsoft Purview DLP provides detection, protection, and control of data across endpoints, Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• Netwrix (formerly CoSoSys) Endpoint Protector delivers continuous multi-OS data loss prevention across Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints.
• Proofpoint Enterprise DLP offers deep visibility into user behavior and content, enabling effective detection and prevention of significant data loss risks.
• Strac DLP provides data discovery and classification, data loss prevention (DLP), and access governance for the enterprise.
• Trellix DLP protects sensitive and proprietary information with discovery and classification, policy application and real time response to events.
• Trend Micro Integrated Data Loss Prevention controls data access and uses control directly at the endpoints, preventing data leaks from mobile or remote devices.
• Zscaler Endpoint DLP offers a powerful, centralized, policy-driven DLP for rapid response and ongoing compliance.

Stephen J. Bigelow, senior technology editor at TechTarget, has more than 30 years of technical writing experience in the PC and technology industry.