DLP systems as a modern information security control

Abstract

Today, information is one of the most critical and valuable assets for success and prosperity of any company. The complexity of modern organizations and the trend to move to the cloud and outsource are increasing. At the same time the wide range of new ever-growing information security (IS) threats, especially those related to new information, communication and network technologies, services and devices, are all around us. For example, the well-publicized attack on the Sony Playstation Network, resulted in the loss of user names, passwords, addresses, birth dates and financial details of 77 million users and Sony’s financial loss around $171 million (including estimates for customer support costs, legal costs and the impact on future profits), left the online gaming network suspended for weeks in 2011. The importance of using modern protection tools against internal IS threats is proved. The advantages of DLP systems over alternative solutions are disclosed. The principles and technologies underlying the operation of DLP systems are discussed. The architecture, application features and analytical capabilities of the SearchInform Information Security Perimeter (SearchInform) DLP system are described in detail.