The Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Market

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Data loss prevention (DLP) is software that detects, intercepts, and prevents potential data breaches and transmission to protect against data loss.

DLP is preventative technology often employed by companies as a means to safeguard their digital assets and databases.

See below to learn more about the DLP market.

The DLP market

In 2020, the global DLP market was valued at $1.2 billion. It’s anticipated to reach a value of $4.29 billion by 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.47%.

Several countries and regions are contributing to the DLP market’s growth:

• The U.S. is expected to maintain a 23.4% growth rate between 2019 and 2025
• Germany is expected to add $158.7 million to the European DLP market by 2025
• Europe is estimated to have $217.5 million worth of DLP projects by 2025
• China exhibits a growth rate of 20.1% and an increase of $801.1 million by 2025
• The Japanese DLP market is estimated to reach $218.2 million by 2025

DLP solutions and services are in high demand in data-reliant industries.

• Telecommunications
• Banking and finance
• Health care
• Government
• Retail
• Logistics
• Energy

DLP features

Data loss prevention solutions are used to protect data and digital assets by aggregating them into a centralized and unified storage system.

They often include the centralized setting of policies and built-in access control management.

The DLP market can be segmented based on the type and depending on the location of data it protects:

Network DLP

Network DLP is responsible for monitoring and protecting data present on an organization’s network. It’s capable of detecting suspicious network activities like tampering and deletion.

Network DLP can be implemented either as software or hardware. 

Endpoint DLP

Endpoint DLP safeguards a network’s entry points to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of data and information. By monitoring endpoints for inbound and outbound data flow, DLP solutions can detect unauthorized access even if the endpoint is offline.

Storage DLP

Storage DLP is the most basic type of DLP solution. It protects data from unauthorized access and tampering by managing which users have access privileges to access, edit, or copy system files.

This is, by far, the most common type of DLP solution used by businesses to detect and monitor activity regarding sensitive data.

Benefits of DLP

• Full visibility into the data environments
• Reveal sensitive storage locations
• Centralized setting of policies
• Effective barrier against insider and outsider threats
• Achieve compliance
• Secure data transfer for remote workers

“Data Loss Prevention (DLP) systems have proven to be highly effective in safeguarding companies’ valuable data from leaks. They earned a spot in the information security ecosystem, due to extensive automation, the use of machine learning, and a significant reduction of server load,” says Dave Balaban, a cybersecurity and privacy writer at Forbes.

“DLP works wonders for securing digital communications channels, tracking user actions on workstations, and controlling file storage locations.”

DLP use cases

Organizations in various industries are able to make the most out of DLP technology and solutions.

Budapest Bank

Budapest Bank is a full-service bank with just under 3000 employees, annual revenue of $230 million, and nearly 100 branch offices in Hungary.

In 2015, the Hungarian government bought the Budapest Bank and sought to completely replace its IT security infrastructure. By working with Symantec, the government was able to effectively secure the bank’s endpoints and protect against data loss with universal policy enforcement and encryption.

“When we heard about WannaCry, we immediately checked our reports from Symantec and other security tools to see if the vulnerability was known and the antivirus engines were up-to-date, which they were,” says Aurél Huszthy-Torok, IT security, risk, and compliance leader at Budapest Bank.

“Of course, we monitored our logs and reports a little more closely than usual, but we knew we were protected.”

St. Charles Health System

St. Charles Health System (SCHS) is a health care delivery system combining three hospitals and over 20 clinics in Central Oregon. The system regularly handles the data of over 3,000 caregivers and their patients.

In order to ensure compliance with HIPAA/EDI regulations, SCHS underwent a baseline security risk assessment. It discovered that one of its hospital information systems was misconfigured, sending data over the internet instead of using the dedicated secure channel.

With a successful data loss risk assessment, SCHS implemented the complete Digital Guardian compliance solution for monitoring, blocking, and discovery.

“Once we saw items that could become major issues for us, we were able to remediate potential problems right away,” says Steve Scott, InfoSec manager at SCHS.

“The appliances were easy to set-up and configure. We were up and running in an hour with the basic information in place to begin monitoring our systems.”

DLP providers

Some of the most prominent DLP vendors are:

• Forcepoint
• McAfee
• Digital Guardian
• GTB Technologies
• Spirion
• Safetica ONE
• InfoWatch
• Fidelis Network
• Tessian Guardian
• Symantec