Data Loss Prevention

• Published in: IT professional Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 10 - 13
• Main Authors: Liu, Simon, Kuhn, Rick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington IEEE 01.03.2010; IEEE Computer Society
• Subjects: Companies; Computer security; Confidentiality; Consumers; Costs; Customer services; Data integrity; Data loss; data loss prevention; Data security; Electronic health records; Electronics; Financial institutions; Financial Services Modernization Act 1999-US; Fraud; Information technology; Insurance policies; Intellectual property; Inventory; Litigation; Medical; Medical records; Movement; Network security; Organization theory; Organizations; Portable computers; Prevention; Prevention programs; Privacy Act 1974-US; Protection; Regulators; Risk; Security; Security management; Smart phones; Smartphones; Studies; Tellurium
• ISSN: 1520-9202; 1941-045X
• DOI: 10.1109/MITP.2010.52

In today's digital economy, data enters and leaves cyberspace at record rates. A typical enterprise sends and receives millions of email messages and downloads, saves, and transfers thousands of files via various channels on a daily basis. Enterprises also hold sensitive data that customers, business partners, regulators, and shareholders expect them to protect. Unfortunately, companies constantly fall victim to massive data loss, and high-profile data leakages involving sensitive personal and corporate data continue to appear (http://opensecurityfoundation. org). Data loss could substantially harm a company's competitiveness and reputation and could also invite lawsuits or regulatory consequences for lax security. Therefore, organizations should take measures to understand the sensitive data they hold, how it's controlled, and how to prevent it from being leaked or compromised.