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As security leaders, you’re tasked with protecting the crown jewels of our organizations, your data, while balancing innovation, compliance, and ever-evolving threats. Yet, too often, data security strategies rely on isolated tools and reactive measures, leaving critical gaps.
Here’s the truth as we know it from our customers: data security posture management (DSPM) and data loss prevention (DLP) are no longer optional, they’re complementary essentials for a modern, risk-aware data security strategy.
If you’ve been treating DSPM and DLP as separate silos, it’s time to rethink. Together, they can work together to form the backbone of a comprehensive approach that not only secures your data but positions your organization to lead in today’s data-driven economy.
Why DSPM and DLP Are Better Together
As I wrote earlier, DSPM and DLP aren’t just complementary, they’re interdependent. One without the other is like locking the front door while leaving the windows wide open.
DSPM is your detective for data security. It pinpoints exactly where sensitive data resides, evaluates its risk, and ensures that it’s stored securely. DSPM operates at the core of your environments (cloud, hybrid, and on-prem), identifying blind spots and aligning security configurations with compliance standards. DSPM is about data at rest and ensures you know where your sensitive data lives and that it’s properly secured before attackers (or auditors) come knocking.
If DSPM is the detective, DLP is the enforcer. It focuses on data in motion, protecting sensitive information as it moves across systems and is accessed by users.DLP watches for risky behaviors, whether it’s an employee trying to upload confidential files to an unsanctioned app or mistakenly sharing sensitive data externally, and takes immediate action to block or prevent leaks.
Together, DSPM and DLP secure the full lifecycle of your data: where it lives, how it’s accessed, and where it’s going.
With those functions in mind, let’s take a closer look at why they work better together:
1. DSPM Lays the Foundation
DSPM is your starting point. Without knowing what sensitive data you have, where that sensitive data is, how it’s stored, or where vulnerabilities lie, your DLP strategy is flying blind. DSPM finds and uncovers the critical areas that DLP needs to protect, ensuring your efforts are targeted and effective.
2. DLP Provides Immediate Defense
While DSPM finds the data and maps risks, DLP delivers real-time protection. It enforces policies and intercepts threats as they occur, whether intentional or accidental. DLP takes the insights DSPM provides and acts on them, creating a seamless line of defense.