At the same time, IT organizations find they have less and less control over their endpoints, which may include their servers, desktops, mobile laptops, and other devices. Today’s workers routinely rely on laptops while at home and on the road; they back up critical and sensitive information onto USB drives that slip into (and sometimes fall out of) a pocket; or use an array of other new devices from iPods to data-capable phones to store and share information. In this increasingly mobile and collaborative environment, business-critical data and intellectual property is now stored on personal computers and devices which are likely improperly managed, unmanaged, lack security, or are vulnerable to employee misuse, loss, or theft. As a result, volumes of sensitive data leave the corporate facility every day, leaving it exposed to the world.

When organizations look to overcome this “weakest link” challenge, they need an endpoint security solution that approaches the problem using multiple layers of protection without adding multiple agents, requiring multiple consoles, and introducing disjointed policies. The solution needs to provide comprehensive and integrated system protection, data protection, and dynamic policy enforcement. By combining the nearly standard Unified Endpoint Protection offerings with the more recent introduction of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) offerings, the security technologies required to fulfill this vision are finally available. Organizations now have options to protect their sensitive data – and ultimately, protect its employees at both a professional and personal level.