What does data loss prevention (DLP) refer to?

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) refers to strategies and technologies designed to prevent the unauthorized access, use, or sharing of sensitive data. The primary goal of DLP is to protect confidential and critical information from being compromised by unauthorized individuals, whether through malicious intent or simple human error. This includes establishing policies that restrict data access to only those individuals who need it and implementing measures to monitor, detect, and respond to potential breaches.

For instance, organizations employ DLP solutions that can identify sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or personally identifiable information (PII), and enforce policies to control how this data can be used or shared. By managing user permissions and ensuring that sensitive information remains secure, DLP plays a crucial role in protecting an organization’s assets and adhering to compliance regulations regarding data protection.

The other choices address different concepts unrelated to DLP; for example, ensuring data access for all users focuses on accessibility rather than protection, while tools for data recovery concern data restoration after loss rather than preventing loss. Lastly, systems for tracking software licenses deal with compliance in software usage, which does not align with the principles of data loss prevention.