Data is the backbone of many modern businesses, and as such Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a key part of any cyber security strategy. In order to prevent such losses, it’s important to understand the potential sources of a data loss. Although some are obvious, like a virus or a natural disaster, there are others you may not yet have considered.
Here is a breakdown of 7 common sources of data loss that you should address in your DLP strategy;
- Accidental damage – it’s easily done, a knocked over cup of coffee or a dropped laptop and any unsaved or synced data could be gone forever
- Human error – nobody’s perfect, data could quickly be lost by an accidental press of the delete button, or by overwriting a file in error
- Malicious insiders – it’s hard to keep everyone happy, a disgruntled employee, or ex-employee could very easily dispose of important or sensitive data
- Malicious outsiders – the rise of cyber warfare is a real threat to all businesses, whether it’s a virus, Ransomware or a hacker
- Software and hardware malfunction – the dreaded system crash, malfunctioning or crashing software or hardware commonly leads to a loss of data and information
- Natural disaster – hard to predict, but anything from a power cut or power surge, to a fire or flood could be a threat to your data
- Physical theft – a stolen computer, laptop, phone or tablet is a very real threat to data loss
These 7 potential sources of data loss should all be considered and accounted for in a DLP strategy. Luckily, many cyber security providers include comprehensive Data Loss Prevention services as part of their offering, however that can never fully protect a business when people are involved. As such, a layered defence strategy is recommended. Internal training, processes and consistency are just as important to a DLP strategy as robust cyber security.
As Acronis Cyber Protect partners we often recommend DeviceLock to our customers. Acronis DeviceLock DLP provides a comprehensive endpoint DLP – discovering and protecting sensitive data while monitoring the operations involving that information.
Get in touch with our experts to find out more.