data exfiltration (data extrusion)

Data exfiltration, also called data extrusion, is the unauthorized transfer of data from a computer.

Such a transfer may be manual and carried out by someone with physical access to a computer or it may be automated and carried out through malicious programming over a network.

To prevent data exfiltration, administrators should create strict IT controls for both physical and digital security. Such controls may include the use of data leak prevention (DLP) products to inspect and/or deny egress traffic from carrying unauthorized content beyond the perimeter of the enterprise and policies for role-based access control (RBAC), encryption, consumerization and password hardening.

See also: extrusion prevention, podslurping