Page 125 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2023

From Network Perimeters to Cloud Access

Security Brokers to APIs: The Evolution of

DLP Strategies

By Sudeep Padiyar, Senior Director, Product Management at Traceable AI

When Data Loss Prevention (DLP) was conceived as a security concept in the early 2000s, it was largely
focused on network perimeters, with efforts towards protecting data in motion across network boundaries.
Fast-forward to the present day where the network perimeter has blurred with most applications being
deployed in the public cloud and the sensitive data that they access are scattered in several data stores
across public and private data centers. In this new landscape, APIs have emerged as the pivotal link for
data transfer and business operations, becoming a primary target for hackers. As a result, modern DLP
strategies are experiencing a seismic shift, with a renewed emphasis on securing APIs.

Historically, DLP initiatives focused on protecting data traversing these boundaries via web, email, and
file transfers. However, the advent of digital transformation, fueled by cloud computing, a mobile
workforce, and APIs being the backbone for business, creates a sprawling, decentralized network where
sensitive data is frequently in transit, and is accessed from virtually anywhere. This change has
dramatically amplified the potential avenues for data loss and breaches resulting in DLP at the API layer

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2023 Edition 125
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