Data Exfiltration Risk Guides
Comprehensive DSPM guides for identifying and mitigating data exfiltration risks across your data infrastructure.
Available Guides
Loading guides for data exfiltration...
About Data Exfiltration Risk
Data exfiltration is the unauthorized transfer of sensitive data from an organization's systems to external locations or actors. This can occur through malicious insiders, external attackers, or compromised systems. Data exfiltration represents one of the most serious security incidents, often resulting in significant financial losses, regulatory penalties, competitive disadvantage, and reputational damage.
Common Exfiltration Methods
- Bulk data downloads and database exports
- Email attachments and cloud file sharing
- Removable media and USB device transfers
- Network protocols and covert channels
Attack Scenarios
- Insider threats and malicious employees
- Advanced persistent threats (APTs)
- Ransomware with data theft components
- Supply chain and third-party compromises
Exfiltration Indicators
- Unusual data access volumes and patterns
- Large file transfers and bandwidth spikes
- Off-hours data access and downloads
- Access to sensitive data outside job functions
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Strategy
Data Loss Prevention technologies and processes provide comprehensive protection against data exfiltration through monitoring, detection, and prevention capabilities.
DLP Technology Deployment
- Network DLP for traffic inspection and filtering
- Endpoint DLP for device and application control
- Cloud DLP for SaaS and cloud storage protection
- Database activity monitoring (DAM) for data access
Content Classification
- Sensitive data identification and labeling
- Regular expression and pattern matching
- Machine learning-based content classification
- Document fingerprinting and watermarking
Policy Enforcement
- Granular data handling and transfer policies
- Channel-specific controls and restrictions
- User and role-based policy application
- Incident workflow and remediation automation
Monitoring and Analytics
Advanced monitoring and analytics capabilities are essential for detecting sophisticated data exfiltration attempts and insider threats.
Behavioral Analytics
- User behavior analytics (UBA) for anomaly detection
- Data access pattern analysis and baselines
- Risk scoring and threat prioritization
- Machine learning-based exfiltration detection
Network Traffic Analysis
- Deep packet inspection (DPI) for content analysis
- Bandwidth monitoring and threshold alerting
- Protocol analysis and covert channel detection
- DNS monitoring for data exfiltration channels
Cloud and SaaS Monitoring
- Cloud access security broker (CASB) deployment
- API monitoring and data flow tracking
- Shadow IT discovery and control
- Cloud storage and sharing activity monitoring
Incident Response and Recovery
When data exfiltration is detected, rapid response and recovery procedures are critical for minimizing damage and meeting regulatory requirements.
Immediate Response
- Isolate affected systems and accounts
- Preserve forensic evidence and logs
- Assess scope and impact of exfiltration
- Activate incident response team and procedures
Investigation and Analysis
- Forensic analysis of exfiltration methods
- Timeline reconstruction and attack attribution
- Data sensitivity and volume assessment
- Root cause analysis and vulnerability identification
Recovery and Remediation
- Regulatory notification and breach reporting
- Customer and stakeholder communication
- Security control enhancement and hardening
- Lessons learned and process improvement