Technology Trends/Data Leak Prevention
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| Status | Published | ||||||
| Initial release | August 6, 2019 | ||||||
| Latest version | August 6, 2019 | ||||||
| Official publication | Data Leak Prevention.pdf | ||||||
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Data Leak Prevention (DLP), also known as “data loss prevention,” is a cybersecurity solution that includes a variety of strategies, processes, and tools whose purpose is to protect an organization‘s valuable data from being accessed by unauthorized users, released into an untrusted environment, or destroyed.
Business Brief
DLP provides the tools to mitigate data leak incidents from occurring within an organization. DLP software usually includes the following functionalities:
- Protection: DLP tools implement safeguards such as encryptions, access controls and restrictions to mitigate possible vulnerabilities. An organization can regulate file access by classifying data according to their level of security and by defining a set of rules each user has to abide by.
- Detection: DLP can alert administrators by generating a real-time detailed report on policy violations such as an attacker attempting to access sensitive data. By creating a baseline behavioural profile of standard patterns, the software can detect abnormal or suspicious user activity. Some solutions accomplish this using machine learning.
- Monitoring: DLP monitors the behaviour of users on how the data is being accessed, used and moved through the IT infrastructure in order to detect irregular or dangerous user activity. If an event is triggered by a rule violation, the system will notify the security personnel. The system gains visibility in order to proactively secure data from leaving the organization on policy violations.
Technology Brief
DLP technology is usually categorized into three different components related to each state of the data lifecycle: data at rest, data in motion, and data in use. In most DLP products, there is also a central management server acting as the control center of the DLP deployment. This is usually where DLP policies are managed, data is collected from sensors and endpoint agents, and backup and restore is handled. The components of a data leak prevention tool are, in general:
Storage DLP: “Data at Rest” refers to data stored on a “device,” for example, on a server, database, workstations, laptops, mobile devices, portable storage or removable media. The term refers to data being inactive and not currently being transmitted across a network or being actively processed. A storage DLP protects this type of data by using several security tools:
- Data masking hides sensitive information like personal identifiable data.
- Access controls prevent unauthorized access.
- File encryption adds a layer of protection.
- Data classification uses a DLP agent to tag data according to their level of security. Combined with a set of rules, an organization can regulate user access to use, modify and delete information.
- A database-activity monitoring tool inspects databases, data warehouses (EDW) and mainframes and sends alerts on policy violations. In order to classify data, some mechanism uses conceptual definitions, keywords or regular expression matching.
Network DLP: “Data in Motion” is data that is actively traveling across a network such as email or a file transferred over File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Secure Socket Shell (SSH). A Network DLP focuses on analyzing network traffic to detect sensitive data transfer in violation of security policies and providing tools to ensure the safety of data transfer. Examples of this include:
- An email monitoring tool can identify if an email contains sensitive information and block the action or encrypt the content.
- The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) monitors for any malicious activity occurring on the network and typically reports to an administrator or to the central management server using a Security Information and Event Management system (SIEM).
- Firewall and antivirus software are commonly available products included in a DLP strategy.
Endpoint DLP: “Data in Use” is the data currently being processed by an application. Data of this nature is in the process of being generated, updated, viewed, and erased on a local machine. Protecting this type of data is a challenging task because of the large number of systems and devices but it is usually done through an Endpoint DLP agent installed on the local machine. Some characteristics are:
- The tool provides strong user authentication, identity management and profile permissions to secure a system.
- It can monitor and flag unauthorized activities that users may intentionally or unintentionally perform, such as print/fax, copy/paste and screen capture.
- Some DLP agents may offer application control to determine which application can access protected data.
- There are advanced solutions that use machine learning and temporal reasoning algorithms to detect abnormal behavior on a local machine.
Industry Usage
Due to the constant risk of possible breaches, such as in the example above, Data Loss Prevention technology is widely adopted amongst the tech industry to protect their data. When it comes to enterprise solutions, Gartner identifies four leading DLP vendors: Digital Guardian, Forcepoint, McAfee, and Symantec. Market worth around DLP is growing: in 2015, its estimated worth was around $0.96 million and is expected to grow to around $2.64 billion by next year at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.3%. While data breaches and cyber-attacks have historically been the driver for demand, the growth of cloud storage will increase demand into the future. Furthermore, as things such as the use of digital services, social media, the Internet of Things (IoT) and e-commerce expand, the production of data, even big data, will grow with it as will the need for storage, whether on cloud or through other means. Thus, the desire and regulatory obligations to protect data, such as through DLP, will expand as well.
The DLP market used to have the same approach with respect to monitoring and protecting an organization’s data, but modern solutions differ significantly and have become more individualised. The traditional approach, sometimes called a project approach or a suite, involves a network gateway acting as a man-in-the-middle to monitor the traffic. It requires that the source, destination and type of sensitive information is known and well-defined. The newer method, sometimes referred to as the data visibility or individual approach, uses an agent installed locally on each system to monitor all user and system activity. This approach works well an organization is still in an age of discovery regarding its transmittal and sharing of data and most networks users would potentially have access to sensitive forms of data. The majority of organizations employ both DLP approaches to varying degrees.
Canadian Government Use
The Government of Canada (GC) has a responsibility to protect not only its data and IT assets but also that of its citizens and the data collected on or about them. Despite this, the GC itself is not free from experiencing data leaks. For example, the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) reported 3,763 data breaches in 2013, including incidents where taxpayer’s information were lost, compromised, or accidentally released. In order to prevent such occurrences, as well as those on both smaller and larger scales, there are various DLP protocols in place throughout the GC. Currently, DLP operations are run independently in each department. However, this is in concurrence with federal supporting policies and procedures, some of which also extend to industry.
As of November 1, 2018, private Canadian businesses and industries, along with the health sector, which are subjected to The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), are required to report all data breaches involving personal information that may harm an individual, hold a record of all data breaches, and notify the affected individuals. The goal of this act is to assure citizens have their personal information protected by appropriate safeguards in accordance to their right to access their personal information. Similarly, the federal Privacy Act stipulates how GC departments can share and provide access to personal information on or about individual Canadian citizens and also mandates reporting of security breaches involving this data.
Since the GC relies extensively on IT to provide its services, the Operational Security Standard from Management of Information Technology Security (MITS) as well as the Operational Security Standard – Business Continuity (BCP) Program defines a baseline of security requirements which federal departments and agencies must fulfill to ensure the security of information are under their control. Those prevention safeguards include incorporating identification and authentication in all networks and systems, authorization and access control to restrict accessibility on a “need to know” basis, proper cryptographic and encryption protocols, and emanations security methods such as TEMPEST. In the event of a data breach, the Policy on Government Security (PGS) establishes a mechanism to coordinate the response and recovery. Since the data breaches are primarily caused by people, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security offers up-to-date publications as part of an awareness campaign.
Implications for Government Agencies
Value Proposition
The value proposition of DLP relates directly to SSC’s mandate to design and operate a secure IT infrastructure that protects GC data and technology assets. The primary business value in implementing a DLP strategy is the reduction of risks and impacts associated with data leaks. These incidents often affect an organization in the following aspects:
- Operational: A data breach often causes an interruption of services until the investigation process is concluded – this can take weeks or months, costing an organization business or other resources in the meantime. DLP ensures redundancies are put in place to counteract important data losses, thereby avoiding cost to operational resources to remediate lost data.
In 2015, SSC implemented the Directive on the Use of USB and Other External Storage Devices to help manage these sorts of risks. All of SSC’s electronic assets have a DLP software-based tool that monitors the use of unauthorized devices on the network. This prevents removal of data from the SCC system or prevent infecting the system with any malware, viruses or other malicious entities. A second phase of SSC’s DLP program is in the planning stages and will monitor enterprise data in motion and at rest – this is already in place in terms of secret data, however.
- Financial: There are significant financial losses resulting from data breaches, including fines, audit fees and legal expenses. The Ponemon Institute has estimated that the average global cost of a data breach has risen to $3.9 million and $5 million in Canada specifically in a 2018 study. Contrast this to the average annual cost of a subscription based DLP solution of approximately $175,000, according to Forrester.