The best way to protect data is to stop it from being stolen in the first place. Therefore, it is better and more economical to invest in soft- and hardware security solutions that prevent data from being leaked by perpetrators from the inside or stolen by malicious users from the outside.
One such tool is the Forcepoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Security Solution, and we will be reviewing this tool in detail. We will also look at a few alternative DLP solutions.
First, what is a DLP solution?
As we have just mentioned, DLP stands for Data Loss Prevention. It is sometimes referred to as data leak prevention, information loss prevention, and extrusion prevention. The process involves deploying software or hardware solutions to prevent individuals from accessing sensitive information they are not privy to. This strategy also ensures that employees do not send sensitive or critical information outside the corporate network by mistake.
This means a Data Loss Prevention solution is an instrument that incorporates policies, procedures, and technologies to prevent data leakage or its misuse. It helps organizations deal with various data security-related issues like insider threats, data leaks, and compliance audit reporting.
The three main benefits that DLP solutions offer are:
- To prevent end-users from accidentally or maliciously misusing data
- Monitoring critical file movements
- Meeting compliance and regulatory standards
The challenge that needs to be addressed
Data security poses a never-ending challenge because:
- Businesses need to comply with regulations and apply industry standards as they implement strategies to prevent data leaks and breaches.
- They need to keep expanding their networks and adopt new connectivity technologies to keep their clients and users happy. They try to connect using the latest BYOD devices and require infrastructures like cloud computing or hybrid networking environments to cater to them.
- They also need to stay on top of the latest data breaching methods, hacking tactics, and access gaining technology.
The only way they can meet the challenges these situations bring to the table and protect their data is with the help of a good DLP solution that plugs all these security holes.
Features of a good DLP
For a DLP tool to be considered among the best, it needs to have all or most of the following features:
- Content inspection and contextual scanning of data to make sure data is fully covered and secured.
- Compliance and audit monitoring to keep the business on track when it comes to regulatory body requirements.
- Encryption technology to secure data in motion as well as at rest.
- Management of assets and features from a central dashboard.
- Securing USB and other secondary storage devices, not just the endpoints directly connected to the network.
- Short deployment time-frame – it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes before the solution can start protecting the network even when using the default templates.
- Little-to-no training is required for the safe and secure running of the solution – it shouldn’t take special training to configure, manage, and administer a DLP tool.
- Sensible price – Like any IT tool, a DLP should always be worth the investment and offer a healthy return on investment (ROI).
Forcepoint DLP ticks many, if not all, of these boxes, as we shall soon see.
What is Forcepoint DLP?
Forcepoint DLP is a data loss prevention tool that protects businesses from information leaks and data loss. It can be deployed inside the network, at the perimeter like a firewall, or run from certain Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms.
Features of Forcepoint DLP
Forcepoint DLP is a tool that comes with an analytics engine to help with identifying and ranking high-risk incidents. The tool evaluates all incidents triggered by DLP policies across all discovered devices and reports on those in danger of data loss – or theft – ranked according to their risk scores.
Once it is deployed, Forcepoint DLP immediately starts to discover connected devices. It then begins to remediate sensitive data stored on them and, finally, controls or monitors the data flow throughout the domain.
It can bring visibility and manage policies – and their compliances – to endpoints, networks, and cloud applications – wherever the businesses’ clients and users can be found.
Once deployed, the administrators can also go ahead and define rules and policies like:
- Who can move and receive data
- What type of data can and cannot be moved
- Where any data can and can’t be sent
- How data can and can’t be sent
- The actions to take in case of policy breaches or non-compliance
The company offers training, too, as any new administrator or power user can go to the Forcepoint Cyber Institute to learn about all its products and solutions and not just their DLP solution.
Components of Forcepoint DLP
Next, let’s take a few minutes to break down this tool to see how it works. The main components of Forcepoint DLP are:
- The management server – this is a server that hosts the Forcepoint Security Manager and Forcepoint DLP software. It provides the core information monitoring and assessment technology. A deployment can include multiple Forcepoint DLP servers to share the analysis load, but only one management server is there.
- The policy engine – is integrated with a Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux endpoint running Forcepoint DLP Endpoint and resides on all Forcepoint DLP servers, Web Content Gateway servers, and Forcepoint Email Security appliances. It is responsible for parsing data and using analytics to compare it to set policies.
- The analytics engine – is used to identify potentially dangerous incidents, rank them, and assign risk scores.
- The policy database – is a repository for Forcepoint DLP policies, and, for optimal performance, it is stored locally on each server.
Forcepoint DLP tools
Four Forcepoint tools tackle various aspects of DLP:
Forcepoint DLP – Endpoint
Forcepoint DLP – Endpoint protects critical data on Windows and Mac endpoints on and off the networks. It provides advanced protection and control for data at rest, in motion, and while in use. It integrates with Outlook, Notes, email clients, and even Microsoft Azure Information Protection to analyze encrypted data and apply the appropriate DLP controls. It also monitors web uploads, including HTTPS, and uploads to cloud services like Office 365 and Box Enterprise.
Forcepoint DLP – Cloud Applications
Forcepoint DLP – Cloud Applications extends the Forcepoint DLP to approved cloud applications, including Office 365, Google Apps, Amazon AWS, Zoom, Slack, and many other cloud productivity tools.
Forcepoint DLP – Discovery
Forcepoint DLP – Discovery identifies and secures sensitive data across file servers, SharePoint, Exchange, and databases like SQL Server and Oracle. It has advanced fingerprinting technology to identify regulated data and intellectual property at rest – which it then protects by applying appropriate encryption and controls. It even offers visibility into image data with its optical character recognition (OCR) capabilities.
Forcepoint DLP – Network
Forcepoint DLP – Network tackles the theft of data in motion through email and web channels. This solution helps identify and prevent data exfiltration and accidental loss due to outside attacks or insider threats. Its analytics engine identifies DLP and stops theft of data one record at a time. Here too, OCR recognizes image data.
Where is the data stored in Forcepoint DLP?
Forcepoint DLP uses two databases:
- The incident database contains information about policy breaches – like what rule was matched, how many times, what violation triggered it, the date, and more. It is stored in Microsoft SQL Server databases along with policy configuration data. When the incident database gets too big, it can be partitioned and archived onto different physical disks.
- The forensics repository contains detailed information about the transaction that triggered the incident; an example would be (in case of a sent email) the contents of the email body and the From, To, and Cc fields, the attachments, URL category, hostname, and file name, etc.
Forcepoint DLP – try it.
We have had a look at Forcepoint DLP and hope that you too can see that it is a competent DLP tool for any networking environment, big or small. It checks all the boxes for the requirements to meet as the best DLP tool on the market.
Try Forcepoint DLP yourself – book a demo for FREE.
Forcepoint DLP alternatives
As good as Forcepoint DLP is, there are still a few alternatives that you can also choose from, including:
- Digital Guardian Two tools to cover endpoints and the network are combined for full-fledged protection; it works to protect Windows, Linux, and Mac devices and data used by any application running on or between them.
- Endpoint Protector A leading DLP tool for Windows, Linux, and Mac devices; it keeps data safe while helping enforce compliance without compromising on users’ effectiveness.
- GTB Technologies A simple but effective DLP tool that protects data wherever it may be – on-premises or in the cloud – using a reverse firewall; it is highly accurate, meaning it doesn’t waste time or resources because of false alerts.
- Check Point Data Loss Prevention Proactively protects data as part of a firewall; it covers all sorts of information regardless of where it resides or how it is traveling; it can even scan encrypted data, thus, ensuring that a business is always covered.
- McAfee DLP A suite of tools that cover data from all angles and wherever it may be located – at rest, in motion, or while in use; a product from one of the leading software security companies out there.
Let’s have a detailed look at each alternative:
1. Digital Guardian
Digital Guardian is a technology company with “The Industry’s Only SaaS Solution for Enterprise DLP” and offers two tools under this category: Endpoint DLP and Network DLP.
The Endpoint DLP lets administrators get control over structured and unstructured data with a broad context and content awareness. For example, they can limit file transfers by size and type and restrict movement to devices or media by brand, model, or serial number. They can also assign access permissions and encryption methods to respective removable devices or media.
The Network DLP monitors and controls all communications channels – like email, the Internet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) – and applications like email, portals, and social media platforms to protect data.
Overall, installing Digital Guardian DLP offers:
- Protection of data via endpoint DLP for data stored on Windows, macOS, and Linux devices.
- It automatically tags sensitive files based on content inspection or contextual analysis; these tags are persistent – they can resist any attempts to bypass DLP via archiving, file extension changes, and even encryption.
- Digital Guardian uses industry-standard RESTful APIs to share deep insights into how sensitive data is being used and how it moves with Security Information and Event Management (SEIM) and Security Orchestration and Automation (SOAR) tools.
- The tool can automate and streamline workflows to simplify security operations.
- Digital Guardian can be deployed as SaaS – this eliminates finger-pointing between technology vendors and the managed service provider.
Try Digital Guardian – schedule a demo for FREE.
2. Endpoint Protector
Endpoint Protector is one of the leading DLP tools on the market. It addresses DLP for Windows, Linux, and macOS devices while also preventing unintentional or accidental data loss risks.
This DLP tool helps businesses stay compliant with data privacy requirements without impacting productivity or disrupting user experience (UX) on the endpoints.
It is easy to set up – it is up and running in a matter of minutes – and offers deployment options to help meet custom network and unique infrastructure demands.
Endpoint Protector lets administrators create and deploy policies for users, computers, and groups; they can also define granular access rights for removable devices. For example, they can define who accesses a file, what privileges they will have over it, and when and where they can access it.
They can even apply policies depending on the particular needs of a department and customize them based on every authorized personnel’s access to sensitive data.
This DLP tool is compatible with the most popular virtualization tools and is deployable in cloud services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Try Endpoint Protector – request a demo for FREE.
3. GTB Technologies
GTB Technologies is a simple DLP system that scales easily, whether on-premises, on an endpoint, control, or hosted on AWS or Azure.
It offers real-time and accurate insights into data with the help of a content-aware Reverse Firewall that monitors, analyzes, and classifies all data – structured, unstructured, and also image types (with the use of an OCR engine).
It is a tool that manages access control of sensitive data by both internal and external users. It also covers data stored on various devices, including laptops, databases, and cloud platforms – like Google Cloud, Google Docs, Office 365, and OneDrive.
GTB Technologies boasts a high accuracy rate of “zero false negatives and zero false positives.”
Try GTB Technologies – schedule a demo for FREE.
4. Check Point Data Loss Prevention
Check Point Data Loss Prevention proactively protects businesses from the unintentional loss of their valuable and sensitive data.
It is integrated into the Check Point Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW), which allows businesses to monitor data movement and empowers their employees to work with confidence while staying compliant with regulations and industry standards.
This tool tracks and controls all types of data in motion, regardless of traveling via email, the Internet, and file-sharing services. It can even scan and secure SSL and TLS encrypted traffic that is going through a gateway.
It also monitors the usage of applications and responds according to set policies and rules – like blocking or deleting users – in real-time. Thanks to its out-of-the-box best practices and policies templates, administrators can immediately start using the tool after setting up.
Try Check Point Data Loss Prevention – request a demo for FREE.
5. McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention
McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a suite of tools that consists of six components:
- McAfee DLP Discover – to find sensitive data across the network.
- McAfee DLP Prevent – this enforces the DLP policies.
- McAfee DLP Monitor – this core component scans the network traffic in real-time.
- McAfee DLP Endpoint – this is the engine that monitors and prevents confidential data loss.
- McAfee Device Control – this is the tool that protects data on removable devices and media.
- Finally, McAfee MVISION Cloud Integration – businesses can extend their DLP policies and data protection into the cloud.
As we can see, each component contributes towards stopping DLP in its assigned infrastructure segment and in its unique way. But, overall, the features of this DLP tool allow administrators to gain visibility into how their data is being used (or misused), identify and classify critical data, and encrypt such information while also enforcing policies.
Try McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention – schedule a demo for FREE.
Forcepoint DLP – final thoughts
Finally, we think that Forcepoint DLP is indeed a tool that is worth investing in. Businesses – be they SMBs or large organizations – can rest assured that this tool will keep their data safe. At the moment, we simply can’t spot any drawbacks with using this tool.
Let us know what you think about using Forcepoint DLP. Share your thoughts with us; leave us a comment below.
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