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The content analysis technique will directly determine what products make the short list, but make sure to account for future needs. Although most of the market--90 percent by some estimates--is focused on protecting PII, about 30 to 40 percent of those organizations are also interested in protecting unstructured data. They start by using DLP to protect PII to reduce their compliance risk, and then slowly add other content, generally trade secrets and intellectual property, once they get comfortable with their tool.
The last major component of DLP solutions is endpoint agents to monitor use of data on the user's desktop. A "complete" agent theoretically monitors network, file and user activity such as cut and paste, but few real-world tools provide full coverage. Most products start with file monitoring for endpoint content discovery and to detect (and block) sensitive data transfers to portable storage. Rather than completely blocking USB thumb drives to protect data, an organization can use these tools to restrict file transfers based on content.
Endpoint DLP tools are starting to add more advanced protection, such as limiting cut and paste, detecting sensitive content in unapproved applications such as certain encryption tools, and automatic encryption based on content. Over time, they will increase the type and number of policies they can enforce and integrate more deeply into common endpoint applications.
ARCHITECTURE & INTEGRATION
DLP architectures are defined by where they protect the content: data-in-motion network monitoring, data-at-rest file storage scanning, and data-in-use monitoring of the endpoint. Full-suite solutions include components for each of these areas, while partial suite tools cover only a portion, such as an endpoint DLP tool with an email-only gateway (see "DLP Vendors," below). There also are single-channel products and non-DLP tools that bundle some DLP features, like an email gateway that can block messages with credit card numbers. In the long run, most organizations--especially large enterprises--will prefer full-suite solutions, but partial-suite and DLP-as-a-feature tools often meet tactical needs where complete coverage isn't necessary.
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