Inquiry 
Effective methods to avoid Data loss and Data leakage
In the age of digitization and technological developments such as Industry 4.0, companies are confronted with ever-increasing amounts of data that need to be stored, analyzed, and evaluated according to business activity/priorities. Even though data is playing an increasingly significant role as a resource, it also comes along with huge security challenges. It is becoming increasingly lucrative for hackers to steal data to use it for a competitive advantage or even to monetize stolen data. When the data is stolen, companies lose a lot of money. To counteract this, data security, i.e., the protection of data from unauthorized access, is of crucial importance.
The protection of a company’s valuable data from unauthorized access is the task of data loss prevention (DLP) tools. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions have been an integral part of the IT security strategy of many companies for more than ten years now. It is one of the most used technologies, by worldwide companies, to prevent the loss of sensitive data. The aim is to protect any form of data against manipulation, disclosure, loss, and other forms of threats.
Various countermeasures can be taken to minimize the loss of a company due to data loss & to protect critical business assets. When implementing them, it is important to know what value the respective data generates for the company. Data that leads to high financial losses in the event of damage must be given the highest priority in the implementation of data loss prevention.
- Backups: The most used method to counteract data loss are backups. These do not directly prevent the data loss process, but if data is lost, it can at least be recovered. Thus, it is important that the backups are carried out on a regular basis. They must also be regularly checked for recoverability and malware.
- Permission Restrictions: Another technique to limit accidental data loss by employees is to restrict permissions/access to valuable files. The permission layer supports the company’s data privacy by protecting access to restricted data. Also, if an employee does not have permission to delete a file cannot delete it either.
- Training and antivirus programs: There are several measures that must be taken to protect against viruses. First, the employees should be trained so that a virus has no chance of being invited into the system. However, since errors can still occur here, network anti-virus programs must be installed on every computer, every server, and every communication interface. It makes sense not to rely on just one provider here to be able to intercept several viruses.
- Data leakage prevention: Analogous to data loss prevention, data must be inventoried and categorized. It ensures that users do not send sensitive or critical information outside the corporate network. Business confidential and critical information is classified and protected so that unauthorized users cannot accidentally or maliciously share data, which would put the organization at risk.
- E-mail scanning: To prevent unauthorized internal sending of confidential documents, companies can prevent outgoing e-mails with attachments. However, since this cannot be practically implemented in everyday life, it makes sense to scan outgoing e-mails and only deliver them if previously set rules for sending have been observed.
- Training and antivirus programs: Finally, incoming electronic communication can also be checked. This is to ensure that no Trojan or other form of malicious software can nest in the corporate network. Incoming documents in particular offer opportunities for this. Anti-virus programs must be used here to prevent a virus from being loaded. Employees also need to be trained so that fraudulent e-mails don’t stand a chance.
Data loss prevention & data leakage prevention are two main data security strategies that are adopted by worldwide companies. Companies that store sensitive and critical data, such as personal data, should place a greater focus on data leakage prevention. Operators of universally available assets, on the other hand, should consider data loss prevention as a priority.