Your data is your SMB’s most vital asset – and it’s constantly under attack. From reputational ruin to severe legal and financial penalties, the consequences of a data breach are nothing short of devastating.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) isn't just about recovery after an incident, but proactively stopping sensitive information from leaving your control. However, many of my SMB clients that I’ve worked with over my 25 years in the business believe one of three things about advanced DLP: it’s either too complicated, too expensive, or that simple backups suffice. None of this is the case – and I’ll unpack why.
In this article, I’ll explain why DLP is crucial for any business, identify key risks and briefly introduce how compliance enters the picture. In the end, you’ll have a clear idea of how to protect your critical data effectively without breaking the bank.
Data is the lifeblood of any modern business: without it, the business simply wouldn’t exist. Whether it's customer information, sales strategies, or intellectual property, protecting this data is paramount because this is exactly what hackers are after. As the name suggests, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is essentially about preventing any corporate data from being extracted from your business environment.
This can happen accidentally (due to human error) or with malicious intent (like a data breach). Losing your sales results or next-level marketing campaign is one thing, but imagine customer data like phone numbers, addresses, and even medical records falling into the wrong hands. From this, I’m sure you’d agree that classified customer information is the most critical asset to protect. Not only would your business suffer irreparable reputational damage, but losing it could result in severe legal ramifications that close your doors for good.
However, it's not just about preventing external attacks and being cyber-prepared. As chilling as it sounds, cyber threats lurk within your walls. In this article, I spoke about how you need to keep a close eye on employee behaviour (especially those who’ve given their notice), for that very reason. Say you have a sales team member who decides to switch teams and work for a competitor – and in doing so, takes all your customer data with them.
But in my experience, what people are most concerned about is stopping hackers from getting into their environment and stealing their data. And given that BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is on the rise, cyber attacks are increasingly targeting mobile entry points. For that, I strongly suggest things like strict e-mail controls and cloud policies that dictate who can access your data, where it’s kept, and whether people can only view (and not download) company data on their personal devices.
As someone who may not be a “techie”, it’s easy to think that DLP is not just about keeping your data protected, but backed up as well. A fair assumption (this stuff can get pretty complicated), but a common misconception nonetheless. Whenever we talk about data backup, we’re referring to disaster recovery. While disaster recovery focuses on restoring your data after someone accidentally deletes it, for example, DLP is about making sure that your personal data, private data, and company data don't leave the business.
Disaster recovery and backups fall under a separate policy aimed at having data in a central place to be restored. Whereas DLP focuses on preventing the initial loss of sensitive information. Here’s the kicker: if a company gets hacked, attackers will often target backups first to prevent restoration before going after the main data. So while DLP and disaster recovery are two different things, having strategies for both is equally important. You essentially want to protect your crown jewels (data) from all angles.
It’s no secret that SMBs are under siege and face a multitude of data-related risks. Let’s take a moment to unpack some of the most common pathways for data loss. These include:
Regardless of how data leaves the business, the consequences of such incidents can be significant – including downtime, legal penalties, and damage to your reputation. Have a look at what happened to Marks & Spencer! If sensitive data gets out, it could be ransomed (which doesn’t guarantee your data back) or your uniqueness in the market could be diluted (which would be the best-case scenario). Moreover, a data breach can negatively impact your reputation with other businesses in your industry, or worse still, with your customers. Oh, and let’s not forget that there are financial fines for not reporting data breaches.
Speaking of compliance, another common misconception is that the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the only regulatory body to be aware of. But this is just one crucial piece of the puzzle. It’s important to remember that it is not the only regulation concerning data protection.
Apart from how data loss financially and reputationally affects your business, you are legally responsible for preventing data loss. For example, you are legally obligated to report a notifiable breach to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) within no more than 72 hours of being made aware of it. And this report becomes public knowledge, so you wouldn’t be able to deal with this quietly.
At this point, you might be saying something along the lines of: ‘Andy, I hear you. I want to keep my data safe and remain compliant. But I don’t have the money for fancy DLP solutions’, or ‘Surely these policies and strategies you’re talking about are primarily designed for large enterprises?’. I’ve heard it all before – and then some.
Let me be clear, none of this is as expensive as it sounds, and just because the NHS was hacked, doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you. DLP is relevant and crucial for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Every business sells something, makes something that is sold, or provides a service, and therefore holds customer data which they need to protect.
Fortunately, there are relatively easy and cost-effective DLP measures that UK SMBs like yours can adopt:
Not only is effective Data Loss Prevention (DLP) achievable and affordable for your SMB, it’s a non-negotiable when it comes to protecting your business from all angles.
Between hackers and human error, your business data faces constant threats that could leave your business in financial and reputational ruin at best, and suffering legal penalties at worst.
But, as I’ve said before, it’s all about being proactive to prevent this from happening. DLP ensures that all data interactions within your corporate systems are monitored and controlled. I know for a “non-techie” this may be a bit overwhelming, but I’m here to help!
From implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) to identifying the best mobile device management (MDM) solution for your SMB, Babble can help you take the next step in keeping your business protected.