Best Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Software in 2024

What are Data Loss Prevention Tools

Data loss prevention tools work like a shield against inadvertent or malicious disclosure, loss, or theft of sensitive information. These software solutions are the guardians of your valuable data, ensuring it remains confidential and secure.

DLP software solutions work by implementing a set of rules that manage who can access, modify, or share sensitive data. They begin by identifying what data is sensitive, categorizing it, and then vigilantly monitoring its usage. When suspicious activities are detected, these DLP data loss prevention tools swing into action and employ measures like blocking unauthorized access, notifying administrators, isolating suspicious files, encrypting data, or taking other necessary actions to rectify the situation.

What Does Data Loss Prevention Software Do?

Data loss prevention software operates in three essential modes to ensure protection for your information;

• Data in Use: This pertains to data actively being manipulated on devices like laptops, mobile phones, or tablets. For instance, if an employee tries to copy and paste sensitive data on their laptop, DLP software springs into action to prevent unauthorized actions.
• Data in Motion: Here, DLP software focuses on data in transit, whether within your internal network or over external channels, including email. It carefully tracks data as it moves across networks to prevent unauthorized access during transmission.
• Data at Rest: This aspect covers data stored in various repositories like databases, cloud computing platforms, computers, or mobile devices. DLP software safeguards such data by regulating access, encrypting it, or even deleting it.

Why Use Data Loss Prevention Software?

The utilization of data loss prevention DLP software serves as a critical strategic choice for organizations to secure their sensitive information and adapt to the ever-evolving world of data access and mobility. Here are the main reasons companies choose to implement DLP software;

• Protect Sensitive Data: Sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), intellectual property (IP), financial records, and customer data, is a prime target for bad actors and hackers. DLP software safeguards this valuable information by preventing unauthorized access and leakage.
• Enable Secure Data Use on Mobile Devices: In today's workforce, employees bring their own devices or work remotely using various endpoints. DLP software minimize the risk of data breaches by ensuring secure data handling on these devices.
• Prevent Data Leaks: It sets up defenses against accidental or deliberate data leaks caused by employees or insider threats within your digital walls.
• Prevent Data Loss: By preventing users from deleting files they lack permission to delete, DLP software maintains data integrity. It also reduces the risk of data loss due to human error or malicious actions.
• Detect Data Breaches: It is vigilant, alerting administrators to suspicious activities and thwarting ongoing data breaches or data exfiltration attempts in real time.
• Understand Data Usage: It goes beyond protection and enables organizations to discover, classify, and monitor sensitive data by offering crucial insights into data usage.
• Maintain Customer Trust: DLP tools retain brand reputation and gain customer trust by helping companies protect customer data.
• Meet Business Partner Compliance: Business partners often require stringent data protection, contractually obligating companies to safeguard sensitive data or face penalties. DLP software ensures compliance with such demands.

Who Uses Data Loss Protection (DLP) Software?

Data loss prevention software provides all organizations with the ability to safeguard their precious data assets. However, it finds its stronghold in enterprise-level companies operating in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing, energy, and government. These industries face stringent data security demands and are the most likely candidates to embrace DLP software. As data protection laws like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gain prominence, even mid-level and small companies can reap the benefits of DLP software to fortify their data defenses. Here is are some examples of who uses Data loss protection software;

• CISOs and InfoSec Teams: Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and their InfoSec teams play a pivotal role in using data loss protection systems to fortify their business's data security posture.
• IT Teams: Some IT teams take charge of DLP software administration to protect sensitive information.
• C-suite Executives: Top-tier executives, including CEOs and CMOs, turn to DLP software to protect intellectual property (IP) and safeguard customers' personally identifiable information, thereby preserving the brand's reputation.
• Everyday Employees: In the daily workflow, employees may encounter data leak prevention solutions if their actions, such as sharing sensitive data, contravene company policies. This ensures that data protection is integrated into the organization with everyone playing a part in maintaining data security.

Types of Data Loss Protection Software

When it comes to data loss protection software, there are four primary categories that companies rely on to protect their valuable information. Each type serves a specific purpose in safeguarding data;

• On-Premise Storage DLP: This category focuses on identifying and safeguarding sensitive data stored within on-premises databases, servers, and file shares. It ensures that data remains secure within an organization's physical infrastructure.
• Cloud DLP: Software performs a similar role to on-premise storage DLP, but its focus lies in the cloud. It actively seeks out sensitive data within cloud storage using application programming interfaces (APIs) to establish connections.
• Network DLP: It takes a broader approach by monitoring sensitive data across a company's entire network. This includes scanning emails, web traffic, social media, and various communication methods to enforce compliance with sensitive data policies. It operates through physical appliances or by routing network traffic through dedicated virtual machines.
• Endpoint DLP: Endpoint DLP safeguards sensitive data on individual devices, including laptops and mobile phones, using specialized software. It also offers the ability to block specific activities, such as preventing the loading of particular file types onto mobile devices and enhancing data security at the device level.

Top Data Loss Protection Tools Comparison

Software	Features	Price
Acronis	Data Recovery, Disk-Imaging Backup, Universal Recovery, Virtual Server, Ransomware Protection	₹3,550 /Quantity
Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance	Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention, Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager, Microsoft Purview Information Protection, Microsoft Purview Customer Key, Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management	₹11,280
Seqrite DLP	Data Loss Prevention, Data Protection, Password Protection, Integrations, Centralized Management	Price On Request
Baffle io	Data Loss Prevention, Data Protection, Password Protection, Integrations, Centralized Management	Price On Request
Cohesity	Easy Cloud Integration, Data Recovery, Cloud Native Backups, Global Data Management, Backup and Recovery	Price On Request
Cypher Protect	Safeguard sensitive files, Asset-level encryption, Revoke access instantly, Get stronger data security, Simple & effective approach	Price On Request
IMATAG	Secure your assets online, Include an invisible watermark, Get real-time notifications, an Automated content monitoring tool, Enhanced visual recognition	Price On Request
Virtru	One-Click encryption, Secure data in Google Drive, Safeguard content in Google Docs, Ensure data privacy, Full control of data	$109
Cossack Acra	Modern data security, Cryptographic security, Searchable encryption, Data masking & tokenization, Key management tooling	$10,000
EncryptRIGHT	Data access control, Encryption, Tokenization, Audit & reporting functionality, Quicker implementations	Price On Request

Factors to Consider When Buying DLP Software

Here are several factors and attributes that you should consider while buying data loss prevention DLP software;

• Data Visibility, Discovery, and Classification: A robust data leakage prevention system should provide a complete view of your data resources by allowing efficient classification based on context, content, and user-driven criteria. It's important that the software scans all local, network, and cloud repositories and identifies potential breaches as they occur.
• Data Handling Policy Templates and Customization Options: Look for data leak prevention solutions with pre-configured policy templates to protect common sensitive data types like personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI). These templates kickstart protection right from the initial scan by running encryption and other security measures.
• Flexible Controls: Your chosen DLP tool should provide flexible, fine-grained controls for enforcing data handling policies. It should allow you to tailor restrictions to your organization's unique needs, such as limiting file transfers by location or size.
• Analytics and Reporting: Effective DLP software solutions should offer analytics and reporting capabilities to identify recurring policy violations. These insights can highlight the need for security awareness training or uncover potential insider threats. Furthermore, they can reveal inefficiencies in your data handling policies that may impact business operations negatively.
• Cross-platform Support: A DLP solution must be compatible with various operating systems and should support multiple endpoints in your environment to ensure consistent data loss prevention.
• Delivery Method: Carefully evaluate the delivery method of your DLP solution. On-premises implementation requires infrastructure, and technical support, and can be costlier, while a cloud-delivered solution eliminates the need for on-site hardware and support. The latter is often more cost-effective and adaptable, catering to the needs of remote workers in today's mobile workforce. Making the right choice in these factors ensures your data remains secure and compliant.