As companies keep transitioning to remote workflows and relying heavily on cloud-based infrastructures, the task required to safeguard their sensitive data also becomes onerous. According to Gartner, cloud computing has matured from a technology disruptor and will be a required component for competitiveness by 2028. However, this shift in the company workflow environment often comes with some risk scenarios — the danger of data loss through leakages, breaches, or exfiltration.

It is often difficult to keep sensitive company data secure while many authorized individuals access it across cloud storage or on-premise repositories daily. Per IBM’s Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach continues to rise, with data theft ranking as a primary motivation for cyberattacks. One effective way to minimize company exposure to data breaches and leakage is to have a comprehensive data loss prevention strategy.

Franklin Okeke, writing for TechRepublic Premium, looks into different DLP strategies and their importance in an organization’s cloud security posture management.

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MAIN CAUSES OF DATA LEAKS

Without adequate security measures in place, data loss will remain a potent threat to business security. A recent data security report by Arcserve reveals severe data loss affects about three-quarters of IT leaders they surveyed, with 45% of them having a permanent data loss. There are three main causes of data leaks, which are discussed below.

Extrusion by attackers

An extrusion attack involves targeting sensitive data using techniques such as phishing, malware, or code injection. Attackers often use this method to target vulnerabilities in third-party software and then demand a ransom fee in exchange for unlocking them.

This third-party loophole accounted for about 15% of breaches reported by a Verizon Business survey in 2024, and it is mostly facilitated by zero-day exploits for ransomware and extortion attacks.

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