Stop Data Loss in its Tracks with Cato DLP Enhancements  

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions are essential for safeguarding valuable data. They scan traffic to prevent the transmission of sensitive information such as credit card details and personal identifiable information (PII) such as Social Security Numbers (SSNs). However, traditional DLP solutions are often complex to configure, manage, and operate. Setting up DLP policies typically requires a learning period where administrators need to understand the applications in use, the specific actions taken, and the content being transferred. This complexity can disrupt business, when inaccurate DLP rules hinder legitimate activities or inadvertently allow unauthorized ones. Moreover, a sole focus on public cloud applications can leave sensitive data vulnerable in proprietary or unsanctioned applications. 

When Cato Networks introduced its DLP solution in 2022, the mission was to deliver an enterprise-grade DLP leveraging the Cato SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) single-pass cloud engine, eliminating the operational complexities of traditional DLP solutions, ensuring comprehensive coverage and accurate detection across all enterprise applications, and minimizing false positives. Cato DLP offers robust data protection from the outset. It has over 350 tested and validated data types, and pre-defined rules that address real customer use cases. It has support for user-defined data types, and integration with Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to apply sensitivity labels to DLP policies. 

In less than two years from the initial launch, hundreds of enterprises have adopted Cato’s DLP solution. They enjoy its benefits alongside the other advanced security services within Cato SSE 360, all delivered from a unified cloud-native SASE architecture. 

What’s New in Cato’s DLP solution 

The challenge of safeguarding sensitive data becomes more and more complex, as organizations migrate to cloud environments, adopt digital transformation initiatives, and leverage new productivity tools like Gen AI applications. 

The Need for Tailored Data Protection  

Standard data types like PII and credit card details can be covered easily using extensive catalogues. But what about proprietary processes, trade secrets, and other unique data? These may slip through the cracks with basic DLP rules. To address these challenges, Cato has introduced several advanced detection techniques to support the unique vulnerabilities and compliance requirements of different industries. Let’s explore them.  

Machine Learning Data Classifiers 

Safeguarding unstructured data poses unique challenges, as they do not follow a predefined schema, making it difficult to categorize and detect using predefined data catalogues or even convoluted regular expressions. Machine Learning (ML) data classifiers handle unstructured data effectively where traditional text-centric methods fall short. By leveraging a unique text similarity model, Cato ML data classifiers analyze thousands of files in real-time to detect a variety of document types such as medical records, tax forms, patents, and more. This reduces false positives and negatives, enhancing data protection strategies without frequent updates to custom data types. 

Exact Data Match (EDM) 

EDM provides an additional level of granularity in data detection, ensuring that only exact matches of predefined sensitive data elements trigger a DLP policy. This minimizes false positives inherent in traditional pattern-based DLP solutions, supporting organizations’ unique data protection requirements. 

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 

OCR enables the detection of sensitive data in image-based files, such as scanned documents and screenshots. With single-click activation, OCR can be enabled on existing data protection policies, analyzing and extracting text from images to identify sensitive information contained within them. 

Boost productivity while keeping your data safe with support for Gen AI Applications and User notifications 

Gen AI applications, while enhancing productivity, also introduce new threat vectors for data exfiltration. Cato DLP ensures that organizations can confidently allow users to continue using these applications while safeguarding sensitive customer data from inadvertent exposure. Furthermore, combining Cato DLP with the Cato ZTNA agent, users are promptly informed of any security violations, maintaining a balance between protection and usability. 

Why Cato DLP is unique in the market 

Cato DLP is designed to protect data across all enterprise applications, providing customers with immediate value through quick and smooth onboarding. Utilizing the Cato Single Pass Cloud Engine (SPACE) architecture, Cato DLP converges data inspection with contextual information based on Cato’s networking and security engines. Delivered over a unified Cato management platform, it shares the same metaphors, identities, and policies as other security tools, ensuring no learning curve for administrators.  

Conclusion 

In the evolving threat landscape, organizations must ensure their data is protected at all times. Cato’s DLP solution, part of its unified SASE platform, provides versatile and user-friendly data protection tools. By leveraging innovative techniques like ML classifiers, EDM, OCR, support for Gen AI applications and end-user notifications, Cato DLP enhances data security, ensuring organizations stay ahead of potential threats while maintaining operational efficiency and user experience. 

For more information, please refer to the additional resources and demos available on our Web Site