Why Limiting DLP to Data Egress Leaves Massive Blind Spots
Traditional Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions were built for a simpler era — one where the main security concern was stopping data from leaving the organization. These tools were designed with a narrow focus: inspect data only when it’s moving out of the network.
But in today’s world of cloud collaboration, hybrid work, and complex data flows, that narrow focus has become a serious limitation.
Legacy DLP: Only Watching the Door
Legacy DLP solutions typically inspect content only during egress events — when data is leaving the network perimeter. These events include:
Sending an email externally
Uploading files to the web
Copying data to a USB drive
Printing or using copy/paste actions
In other words, they only look for sensitive information when it’s already on the way out.
That may sound logical — after all, the name is Data Loss Prevention. But this approach ignores the vast majority of data activity that happens inside the organization.
What’s Being Missed: 1,000 to 1
For every one egress event, there are likely hundreds or even thousands of non-egress events — actions like opening, saving, editing, or moving files. Yet legacy DLP doesn’t inspect or track any of these.
That means the tool has visibility into less than 1% of total data activity. Imagine running a surveillance system that only turns on when someone’s walking out the door — but not when they’re wandering through the building, picking things up, or moving them around.
That’s the reality for many organizations today relying solely on traditional DLP.
The Case for Inspecting Non-Egress Data Activity
Some DLP vendors argue that their job is to prevent data loss, not to track every movement of data. While that was once true, the definition of data protection has evolved.
There’s tremendous value in tracking and inspecting non-egress data events — because that’s where early warning signs often appear.
Modern data protection programs recognize that by observing data before it leaves, we can:
Detect abnormal behavior earlier
Identify data that may be at risk
Understand user intent
Prevent incidents before they become breaches
A Closer Look: Following the File’s Lifecycle
Consider a simple example. Imagine a file containing 1,000 credit card numbers:
Upon download from a network share → DLP detects 1,000 credit card numbers
Upon opening the file → 1,000 credit card numbers still detected
Upon saving the file → 1,000 credit card numbers still detected
Upon moving the file → 1,000 credit card numbers still detected
Now imagine that upon saving the file, those credit card numbers are no longer detected.
To an incident responder, that’s a major clue. It suggests the user has altered or removed sensitive information — potentially indicating data manipulation, extraction, or even attempted obfuscation.
Without non-egress inspection, that context is completely invisible. The responder would only know the data left (or didn’t), not what actually happened to it along the way.
From Data Loss Prevention to Data Activity Visibility
Restricting DLP inspection to egress events blinds organizations to the everyday data interactions that precede most breaches or misuse.
By contrast, modern DLP and data security platforms — including Microsoft Purview — take a more comprehensive approach. They monitor data throughout its lifecycle, applying intelligence to detect and analyze activity at every stage: creation, access, movement, modification, and sharing.
This broader visibility transforms data protection from a reactive exercise into a proactive strategy. Instead of only confirming that data has left, organizations can now understand how and why data moves — and intervene before it’s too late.
Where to Find Modern Data Security Tools?
You may now be thinking, “Great. So where can I find a tool that does everything this post talks about?”
I’m happy to share! I don’t want to put words in their mouths, so much of what I share below comes directly from the vendors’ own marketing. I find it interesting to take snippets from vendor blog posts, and announcements to learn about a company in their own words.
Proofpoint: Expanding Beyond Email Security
Proofpoint is best known as a market leader in email security — but their data protection capabilities go much deeper. Over the past several years, Proofpoint has strategically expanded its portfolio into data loss prevention (DLP) and data security posture management (DSPM).
A key milestone was the acquisition of ObserveIT, a company renowned for its ability to track and analyze user activity at the endpoint. Building on this, Proofpoint developed its own endpoint DLP agent from the ground up and integrated it tightly with ObserveIT’s behavioral analytics. The result is a single, unified agent that combines rich user context with powerful DLP enforcement capabilities.
More recently, the acquisition of Normalyze brought Proofpoint into the DSPM space — adding visibility and governance capabilities across structured and unstructured data, both on-premises and in the cloud.
By combining context-aware DLP with comprehensive DSPM insights, Proofpoint now delivers a broad and integrated approach to data protection — one that not only prevents data loss but also helps organizations understand, classify, and secure their data wherever it lives.
About Proofpoint. Proofpoint, Inc. is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity, securing how people, data and AI agents connect across email, cloud and collaboration tools. Proofpoint is a trusted partner to over 80 of the Fortune 100, over 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations in stopping threats, preventing data loss, and building resilience across people and AI workflows. Proofpoint’s collaboration and data security platform helps organizations of all sizes protect and empower their people while embracing AI securely and confidently. Learn more at www.proofpoint.com.
Cyberhaven: Data Lineage Focused DLP
We're redefining data security by tracing the lineage of your data. Understand risk, stop exfiltration, and protect what matters most—automatically.
Our Fall Product Launch (November 4) announces Cyberhaven’s Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), Early Access. This is a major step in transforming how organizations see, understand, and protect their data.
We’re at an inflection point. Organizations that get ahead of shadow AI, adopt intelligent data governance, and embrace context-aware security will thrive. Those that cling to legacy approaches will struggle.
As data fragments into snippets, prompts, and summaries, label-based discovery can’t keep up. The future of data protection is lineage-driven, built on proven endpoint telemetry that tracks how data moves and transforms across people, apps, and AI.
Cyberhaven is not new to the DLP marketplace – in fact, their $100 million Series D round put the company’s valuation at $1 Billion. The company’s data lineage core engine is no longer unique as many others now include a level of data lineage in their solutions. Still, Cyberhaven takes data lineage far beyond simple data provenance.
About Cyberhaven. Cyberhaven is reimagining data security. Until now, data security products were limited to scanning data content or looking for specific user actions. Our AI-enabled data lineage technology analyzes billions of workflows to understand every piece of data within an organization, identify when it’s at risk, and take action to protect it. To learn more, visit cyberhaven.com.
MIND.io: Simplifying and Automating DLP
Making Stress-Free DLP even less stressful by providing a streamlined and efficient way to acquire and deploy MIND and delivering the scalability and reliability of MIND on Google Cloud Platform.
MIND reimagined endpoint data loss prevention from the ground up to deliver a solution that’s smooth, efficient and designed to actually protect sensitive data without compromising the user experience.
MIND officially announced the industry’s first autonomous DLP during Black Hat, designed to secure data at rest and protect data in motion without relying on constant manual intervention. The core of our autonomous DLP is our state-of-the-art AI data classification engine.
MIND Security is a well-funded startup driving to put DLP and Insider Risk Management (IRM) programs on autopilot.
About MIND. MIND is on a mission to help organizations thrive in a digital world in the AI era by protecting their most sensitive data, mitigating risks and preserving brand reputation. MIND is the first-ever data security platform that puts data loss prevention (DLP) and insider risk management (IRM) programs on autopilot to secure data at rest and protect data in motion. We enable businesses to mind what matters—their most sensitive data. Founded and led by cybersecurity leaders and industry veterans, MIND is based in Seattle, WA. For more information, contact us at info@mind.io.
Orion Security: “Data Loss Ends Here”
Orion Security detects and prevents data exfiltration by understanding organizational business flows.
Orion is rebuilding the broken DLP industry – true AI-powered protection that understands how your business operates. ... with Orion's AI-powered DLP engine.
Orion Security was just recognized in the latest Deloitte cyber report as one of the top GenAI-enabled security solutions for 2025!
Today, we’re partnering with Wiz to secure data beyond the cloud. Wiz maps and classifies sensitive data at rest across your cloud. Orion Security monitors that data in motion everywhere else, and stops it from leaking in real time.
Orion is an early stage startup that came out of stealth in March 2025 with $6 million in seed funding.
About Orion Security. Orion Security is revolutionizing data protection for the AI era by focusing on context, intent, and business processes, rather than just content. Their AI-driven platform tracks, classifies, and safeguards sensitive data across all channels, using real-time intelligence to proactively prevent data leakage. By understanding the "how" and "why" of data movement, Orion empowers organizations with unparalleled visibility, reduced false positives, and robust prevention against both accidental and malicious data loss. Founded by leading data security and AI experts, Orion Security is backed by top cybersecurity investors and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. Learn more at www.orionsec.io.
The Future of Data Protection: Context Over Boundaries
Limiting inspection to egress is a legacy concept from a perimeter-based world. In a modern, cloud-connected environment, data is always in motion, and risk can occur long before a file crosses an external boundary.
Visibility into non-egress activity is no longer optional — it’s essential. It enables more accurate investigations, reduces false positives, and gives security teams the context they need to understand intent.
Because when it comes to protecting sensitive information, what happens inside matters just as much as what leaves.