If you hold on to some petty cash at your office, do you leave the money out on a table with a sign saying “Do not take unless you get approval from the Account Department first”? I suspect your answer is no you don’t do this. Why not? Well it is irresponsible to manage money this way. It is expected you will have proper controls and security in place to ensure the money is dispersed to the right people at the right times.
The sensitive data you store on your computer network about your Employees and Customers (like SIN Numbers or Credit Card Numbers) is under your care. It is expected you will have the proper controls and security in place to use the sensitive data as needed. While no one tool provides 100% protection, Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention (DLP) add-on is an excellent layer to help protect sensitive data from leaking out of your computer network. The Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention technology is an easy to configure and powerful tool to use against the constant threat of data loss. For example, if you don’t already know, emails are a very unsecure way to send information and you should never email a credit card number, or any sensitive information for that matter. Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention can be setup to scan all inbound or outbound messages, email, document attachments, Microsoft Teams Chat message and SharePoint documents for content that “might” be sensitive. If sensitive data is detected, you can have DLP do one of a few things.
It can stop the information from being sent outside your network.
It can warn the user but allow the message to send.
Or it can send the message and notify someone that a breach in policy has occurred
There are dozens of types of sensitive data settings DLP can monitor for, like;
Credit Card Numbers
Social Insurance Numbers
Passport Numbers
Health Card Numbers
Bank Account Number
Drivers License Numbers
It is incredibly easy for someone to email an excel file containing credit card numbers to their personal Gmail account. If that were to happen, you have no control of that file anymore. When an Employee or Customer gives you their information, it comes with a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to protect that data. If someone were to accidentally (or purposely) send sensitive data outside your secure network, your business is on the hook for the negative impact that may result from the data breach. Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention can add a layer of protection so you can be more confident you are keeping the sensitive data entrusted to you, safe and protected. If you want to learn more drop us line, we would be glad to help you properly protect the sensitive information you keep on your network.
