Overheard – Data leak prevention market is hot

DLP, once seen as a quick-fix solution for reducing data breaches, is rapidly being recast as a core strategy for discovering sensitive information in the enterprise and controlling access to it. As that evolution occurs, DLP is increasingly becoming the spark that restarts previously stagnant data encryption projects. Tim Wilson, Encryption: DLP’s Newest Ingredient

DLP stand for data leak or data loss protection. It’s a more popular product name with vendors than the old name they tried in 2007, extrusion protection.  (What an awful name!)   As DLP products have evolved and been integrated with other security tools like desktop and mobile device management, DLP vendors have tried out other names including the very silly name, anti-employee theft prevention (who would want to steal an employee?).

But seriously,  the goal of any DLP product is to plug leaks by monitoring and documenting data as it leaves an organization.

In the past, you’d only find a DLP product at a network gateway in a large corporation.  Services industries, healthcare and insurance quickly jumped on the DLP bandwagon, motivated by compliance regulations –  but increasingly vendors are targeting the mid-market.  Forrester predicts that 20% of all small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) will be shopping for a DLP solution in the next 12 months and 25% have already adopted email encryption, network storage encryption and data leak prevention.