Formerly from Vontu and acquired by Symantec in November of 2007, Symantec Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a multi-component platform that provides for the policy-based discovery, monitoring, and blocking of sensitive corporate information. The Symantec DLP suite provides tools and components for the examination and potential quarantining of data at rest, data in motion, and data residing on endpoint machines.

Uniting the Symantec DLP platform is the Symantec Data Loss Prevention Enforce Platform, which provides centralized management, reporting, and policy creation capabilities for the remaining components and itself is included with each of the other products. This component allows both for the creation of automated rules for the definition and detection of confidential information as well as the creation of workflow policies for the remediation of detected policy violations.

Each of the Symantec DLP product components focuses on the identification and/or blocking of information that has been deemed to be confidential to the organization based on administrator defined policies and definitions. Key components of the Vontu DLP suite include those targeted to the protection of data at rest, data in motion, and data on endpoint machines:

- For data at rest, the vendor offers the combination of Symantec Network Discover, for the automated scanning and identification of sensitive information on file servers, databases, document and records management, E-mail repositories, etc., and Symantec Network Protect, which can take the sensitive information located by Symantec Network Discover and quarantine it on encrypted servers; leaving a "marker" file for the end users.

- For data in motion, the vendor offers their Symantec Network Monitor/Symantec Network Prevent combo; which examines network traffic and can integrate with 3rd party boxes and corporate MTAs to enforce data protection policies by controlling the traffic examined.

- Finally, Endpoint controls are provided in the platform via the agent-based Symantec Endpoint Discover and Symantec Endpoint Prevent components (both components can be used from a single agent). As their names imply, Symantec Endpoint Discover scans for confidential or aged data on desktops and laptops (information is reported by user, department, or policy), and Symantec Endpoint Prevent monitors data and prevents users--based on policy--from copying sensitive data to USB devices, to iPods, or burning the data to CD/DVDs.

New features in the latest release of the Endpoint components include expanded monitoring and prevention capabilities, including the ability to monitor E-mail, Web mail, and instant message transmissions for the inclusion of sensitive data as well as preventing copy/paste operations and printing or faxing of the data. Additionally, agent deployment and management assistance is now provided via the inclusion of the vendor's Altiris-based agent-management technology.

Symantec Data Loss Prevention is available now. Typically licensed for enterprise-wide deployment, pricing starts at $25,000 and is based on the number of users and the products purchased.

Contact Symantec for further information.