Prevent data loss
As organizations manage sensitive data across various platforms, preventing unauthorized access, sharing, or accidental leaks becomes critical. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and endpoint DLP offer comprehensive solutions for safeguarding your sensitive information across devices and applications. This approach helps ensure that sensitive data stays secure, even when users interact with external systems or cloud services.
Here's a framework for effectively preventing data loss:
Learn about DLP: The first step is understanding how DLP works to safeguard sensitive data. DLP policies are designed to detect when sensitive information, such as personal health data or credit card numbers, is being shared inappropriately, ensuring it's automatically blocked or restricted when necessary. This foundational knowledge helps you apply the correct policies to prevent data loss across platforms like Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams, ensuring no gaps in coverage.
Plan your DLP implementation: Once you understand DLP, the next step is planning your implementation. Identify where sensitive data is stored, how it moves across your organization, and which areas need the most protection. Planning in advance allows you to target high-risk areas and apply policies strategically. By aligning DLP policies with the data’s flow, you can ensure effective monitoring without overburdening your users or systems.
Design and create a DLP policy: With a plan in place, you can now design your DLP policies. These policies allow you to define specific rules that identify, track, and protect sensitive data. For instance, you can configure a policy to block the sharing of sensitive customer data outside the organization. A well-designed policy ensures that sensitive information is automatically protected while enabling employees to work without constant interruptions.
Tune your DLP policies: Finally, fine-tuning your DLP policies is essential to maintain a balance between security and usability. Review reports from your DLP implementation to identify false positives or areas where adjustments are needed. This tuning process helps you refine your policies to ensure they're effective without being overly restrictive, allowing your users to remain productive while sensitive data remains secure.
Endpoint DLP
While DLP protects sensitive data within cloud environments and services, endpoint DLP ensures that this protection extends to individual devices such as laptops and mobile phones. This coverage means that DLP policies remain in effect even when users interact with sensitive data directly on their endpoints. This rule applies whether they're editing, sharing, or transferring files.
By configuring Endpoint DLP policies, you can:
Monitor and block risky actions, such as copying sensitive data to external USB drives or printing confidential files.
Prevent unauthorized apps or processes from accessing, modifying, or sharing sensitive information on endpoints.
Maintain consistent protection across all scenarios, whether data is at rest, in use, or being transferred between devices.
This added layer of protection is crucial for preventing data loss in situations where employees might work remotely or use personal devices. It ensures that security policies are enforced no matter where sensitive data is accessed or stored.