Gartner Evaluates Data Loss Prevention Tools in LatestMagic Quadrant

Industry analyst firm recently published its latest Magic Quadrant for Data Loss

Prevention, providing guidance to corporate customers on software vendors. As part of

the quadrant, Data Loss Prevention Tools are mapped to a model that rates them as

leaders, visionaries, challengers, and niche players.

Symantec, EMC, Websense, and McAfee were listed in the leaders quadrant again in this

year’s report. Between these four vendors, they capture about 65% of the installed market

for Data Loss Prevention tools. Customers evaluating solutions have many options to

consider as the field also includes many new and emerging players, including DLP-lite

and channel DLP integrated with email encryption solutions.

Gartner estimates the market for data loss prevention tools grew to $670 million in 2013,

up from just $300 million in 2010 just three years ago. Content-aware DLP inspects

content such as files, emails, and other data and applies regulatory and compliance

policies for acceptable use. If a piece of protected information is discovered in an email,

for instance, a DLP solution can notify the user of the error.

When used to its full extend, DLP is not just a transparent security tool invisible to the

end user like a firewall. When users violate a DLP, they are notified and educated about

the issue so they can correct future behavior to align with corporate policies. This

represents a significant shift for many organizations since users may not react positively

to having emails blocked because a compliance violation.

As more content migrates to the cloud, companies are also looking to extend their

existing DLP policies and tools to data stored on cloud services. Another challenge for

DLP at the endpoint is the proliferation of mobile devices with fragmented OS

ecosystems such as Google’s Android which has numerous distinct operating system

flavors in production across millions of smartphones made by different manufacturers.