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Easy DLP Data Protection Loss

Introduction

Many organisations are struggling with information management. Information that is critical to running the businessis stored in a mixture of messaging and document management servers, local hard drives, network file shares. Whatis out there? Who is using it? Where is it being sent?

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions are often sold to help an organisation protect critical information and enforceinformation management policies. With the ability to audit and restrict end-user access and generate reports oninformation storage on the network, DLP is an attractive option for many IT departments. Whether the aim is toprotect information that is vital to the success of an organisation or meeting regulatory requirements, DLP solutionscan offer a strong, centralised service that protects the business.

However, the experience of many organisations has been frustration with end-user acceptance, event managementoverload and constant refining of policy and rules. The number of guides, top ten hints and war stories on theinternet suggests that an organisation should plan very carefully when launching a DLP project.

Leverage Existing Infrastructure

When considering DLP, one of the tasks an organisation

should carry out is to look at the existing security and

information management tools they have already deployed.

These tools provide functionality similar to DLPs primary

goal monitor and control the movement of sensitive

information across enterprise network boundaries. Web

filters are also a common component, providing content-

aware traffic scanning for sensitive information.

Although less commonly deployed, enterprise search is

another tool organisations use to manage information.

These technologies provide fairly good coverage across an

organisations documents and email messages. Solutions

that are already deployed by an organisation can be

effective in providing some of the value that DLP delivers.

Whats missing from these technologies is the ability to

understand the context of the information in question

being able to determine the business value of an email

message or document and then invoking the appropriate

security policy.

Effective Email Labelling ForBusiness

One very effective way of adding context to email messages

and documents is a tool that allows end-users to select

business labels for content. As the end-user saves a

document or sends an email message, the labelling toolasks for the business context for the information.

For example, document containing product design details

might be labelled with Company Proprietary, or an email

containing personal details about a client might be labelled

Personal Data. The labelling tool adds these business

context labels to the document or email message. The

labels can be visual, for example a document header, so

that end-users can see the label. Labels are also added as

metadata so that content scanning engines can use the

labels to trigger policy rules.

For example, a gateway could be configured to block andreturn to sender email messages that contain a Company

Proprietary label. Enterprise search tools can be configured

to allow end-users to search for documents based on

metadata, providing a refined set of results, helping end-

users get to the right information more quickly.

Data Leakage

In most cases, data leakage is the result of human error,

rather than malicious intent. Solutions that help end-users to

do the right thing, rather than blocking objectionable activity

are usually better received by user communities. Emailmessage and document labelling solutions that involve the

end-user have a two-fold advantage over background

systems. First, end-users are aware of what is happening,

they are actors in the security process rather than objects.

Secondly, the content creator is the person most qualified to

decide on the business value of a document.

Microsoft Office Plug-Ins

Email Classifier and Office Classifier from Boldon James are

centrally managed client plug-ins for Microsoft Office (Excel,

Word, PowerPoint), Outlook and OWA. Once the

organisation has determined the categories of information,

an administrator can create a policy that is tailored to the

In most cases, data leakage is the result ofhuman error. Solutions that help end-users

rather than blocking activity are more readilyaccepted.

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organisations business process. With a flexible Group

Policy based distribution, label policies can be tailored for

different groups in an organisation. On the end-user client,

Classifier is integrated into the Microsoft UI, Classifier

provides a seamless interface for adding business context

labels to documents and email messages. As an end-usersaves or sends a document, the labelling tool prompts the

user to select a label that describes the content. Email

Classifier will also verify that the label of an email message

matches the label of attached Office documents.

Fig 1: Boldon James Email Classifier

Email Classifier also allows policy based recipient checking

based on the label. For example, an email message markedas Company Proprietary would be blocked ifany recipients

are not part of the companys email domain. This feature

can stop accidental information leaks before they happen.

User Involvement & Responsibility

An end-user based approach to adding business context to

documents and email messages has a number of

advantages over traditional alert-and-block security tools.

End-users made aware of the business policies in place but

are responsible for applying the correct label. By making this

decision they actively participate in the organisationsinformation management policy. This involvement increases

the adoption of information management policies such as

handling procedures of printed material. Information

management becomes part of the organisations culture.

This approach to information management provides many of

the features of DLP, including the major benefits of

controlling information flow and raising end-user awareness.

End-user based labelling has a lower impact on an

orgaisations IT infrastructure and reuses existing solutions.

The key benefits in following this approach are that

corporate policies can be enforced company wide, operation

can be easily integrated into standard activities using

Microsoft Office products and user involvement creates

responsibility and awareness.

Next Steps

Contact your Boldon James representative or call us on

+44 1270 507800 (UK)

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means, nor may it be distributed without the permission of Boldon

James, nor may it be resold or distributed by any entity other than

Boldon James, without the prior written authorization of Boldon

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Boldon James does not provide legal advice. Nothing in this

document constitutes legal advice, nor shall this document or any

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but not limited to any act, statue, regulation, rule, directive,

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About Boldon James

For over 20 years we have helped organisations with the most demanding communication requirements manage

sensitive information securely and in compliance with legislation and standards.

Our solutions extend the capabilities of Microsoft core infrastructure products to allow secure information exchange

and in 2006 we were elevated to Microsoft Global Go-To-Market Partner. Boldon James is a wholly-owned

subsidiary of QinetiQ, with offices in the UK, US, Australia and Europe, and channel partners worldwide.

User based labelling provides the major DLPbenefits of controlling information flow and

raising end-user awareness

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