The 5 Reasons Why Enterprises Are Upgrading to Modern Endpoint DLP

Companies worldwide have spent billions of dollars on first generation endpoint data loss prevention (DLP) technologies, hoping it would be the answer to intellectual property protection and regulatory mandates such as PCI, HIPAA and GDPR. In theory, it was a good idea. There’s just one big problem: it didn’t work.

A lot of the companies we work with are happy with their web and email DLP, but are fed up with endpoint DLP. Every day, we hear about a company who wants to rip out DLP in frustration after encountering troubled installations, bogged down networks, and hundreds of high-maintenance rules.

So, what’s the answer? More and more, organizations are upgrading to modern solutions such as DTEX InTERCEPT, a workforce cyber intelligence platform that provides endpoint monitoring and behavioral analytics to offer more effective results for significantly less operational pain and user frustration. Here’s why forward-leaning organizations are making this move, which is easier than most IT and SecOps teams think:

1. First- Gen DLP Lacks Visibility

What files were on a lost laptop? What data did a user take when they resigned? Were files downloaded, renamed and used as an email attachment? Security teams are asked questions like this every day. A lot of times, you 100% need these answers to maintain security effectively – it’s just non-negotiable. But it’s surprisingly difficult (and sometimes impossible, depending on your configuration and alerting levels) to get answers to these basic questions from legacy endpoint DLP tools. Without this information, there’s no way that you can effectively stop the insider threat – or even know what your threats are at all.

…But with modern DLP, it’s the name of the game

When it comes to modern endpoint data loss prevention solutions, visibility is what it’s all about. Without it, you’ll never be able to really know what’s happening within your organization. You won’t be able to fight your threats, or even know what your threats are, if you’re blindfolded.

2. Legacy DLP rules are complex

Endpoint DLP deployments require complex rules and policies to be effective. Setting these up is a massive time and money investment, and maintenance is just as demanding. Most organizations just can’t afford the large team it takes to do this configuration and management. Especially now when cyber security resources are at such a premium. Some turn to expensive external vendors, but most simply fall back to a few basic, intrusive rules (like “block all USB devices” or “no usage of Facebook”). Broad, overly simplified constraints like this render DLP basically useless. Even worse, they cripple employee productivity through heavy restrictions.

…But Modern Endpoint DLP is Simple

A modern DLP solution will require very little configuration and will come with analytics based on proven human behavioral patterns. It doesn’t require hours upon hours of work to set up, and its effectiveness doesn’t depend on constant human intervention. This means that it won’t bog down your IT personnel and will be effective even with minimal time investment. In fact, installing DTEX InTERCEPT takes less than an hour and your team can gain actionable insights with out-of-the-box settings in just a few hours!

Learn more: Download the eBook “Protect & Respect: 7 Endpoint DLP Capabilities that Empower the Virtual Workforce”.

3. First- Gen DLP is Heavy

First generation Endpoint DLP uses heavyweight agents that bog down computers and choke networks. On top of that, they require massive server installations. Lots of companies we meet tell us about ripping out DLP after even limited installations fail.

…But modern DLP is Light

The right endpoint DLP solution is lightweight. You should be able to install it and start getting visibility in a couple of hours. It’ll take up very little space on the endpoint and have a minimal network impact – ideally, your employees won’t even be able to tell once it’s been installed because its performance impact is so miniscule. Plus, its tiny size means painless installations.

4. Traditional DLP is Unfair

Traditional Endpoint DLP punishes everyone for the crimes of the few, and it treats innocent employees as if they’re guilty. This causes a massive drop in morale – employees who are constantly restricted and questioned are going to get fed up with feeling like criminals. Plus, heavy restrictions actually encourage good employees to find workarounds in order to get their jobs done more efficiently. Oftentimes, these workarounds end up causing even more headaches and new risks to sensitive data.

…But modern Endpoint DLP is about knowledge, not punishment.

General restriction is never as effective as proactive, targeted response. Continuous endpoint monitoring allows you to employ a “Trust by verify” management style. Instead of punishing everyone in a blind attempt to protect yourself, you can identify specifically who’s intentionally defying security or accidentally making harmful mistakes. This means that you can educate or discipline those specific employees while leaving the rest of your team to do their jobs with minimal interference.

5. Legacy DLP Violates Privacy

Legacy Endpoint DLP systems read the contents of files, emails, and websites that your employees use. This means that it captures personal and confidential data that companies really don’t have any business collecting or managing.

…But modern solutions are privacy compliant

Employees have a right to privacy. At the same time, there needs to be some level of verification happening, even when you have faith in your employees. A privacy compliant endpoint data loss monitoring solution aggregates and anonymizes data, providing the best of both worlds: a system that protects both your security and your employees’ privacy.

Ultimately, First-Gen Endpoint DLP Leaves Gaps.

We’ve established that traditional DLP requires a ton of effort, eats up time and money to set up and maintain – and we haven’t even gotten to the worst part. The final nail in the coffin: even after all that, it’s stillpretty easy for employees to take data out of the organization. The global shift to a remote workforce and the steady rise of “bring your own device” (BYOD) policies have only made organizations more porous, not more secure – and rigid endpoint DLP technologies just can’t keep up. Plus, it only takes small configuration mistakes to create gaping holes in your security system. For most of the organizations we’ve spoken to, this puts them over the edge. They couldn’t justify the massive sacrifices in manpower, endpoint speed, and employee morale all for something that didn’t work anyway.

Making the Switch to Modern DLP

More and more, enterprises are accepting that their legacy endpoint DLP is never going to be the solution that they want it to be. Ultimately, the immense time, effort and money put into managing it becomes more than most organizations can bear.

Now, it’s becoming increasingly accepted that a comprehensive solution like DTEX InTERCEPT helps accomplish everything that you’re trying to get from an endpoint DLP solution, does it better, faster and with less operational overhead. Better yet, it also helps declutter your endpoint architecture by offering UEBA, FIM and insider threat management with a single, light-weight agent. It’s the next generation of data loss prevention – more elegant, less intrusive, easier to manage, and more effective. With visibility and the right behavioral analytics, you can pinpoint suspicious behavior without ever having a need to do company-wide lockdowns. You’ll be making more informed decisions and you’ll be giving your employees a much better – and more productive – working experience. It is different and it is forward-thinking. The future is in knowledge and analytics, not rules and restrictions.

Ready to upgrade your endpoint DLP in favor of a more effective solution? We’ll be happy to help you out! Contact us today to try it out in your organization.