In our increasingly digital world, email remains a primary mode of communication. It is also a fundamental tool for getting work done as people work remotely everywhere. However, it also poses some big risks—namely, it’s easy to send emails to the wrong person. And that means sensitive information can find itself in the wrong hands.
Today, misdirected emails are the No. 1 email data loss issue. It causes organizations to experience data breaches, which can mean expensive regulatory fines and brand damage. And it means that they lose valuable intellectual property (IP) and productivity, too. As organizations continue to grapple with this issue, it has become essential to integrate behavioral AI into email security tools to mitigate these risks.
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at this widespread issue—and how Proofpoint Adaptive Email Data Loss Prevention (DLP) can help.
Misdirected emails are a major issue
Misdirected emails occur for various reasons: simple typos in email addresses, confusion over similar names or misjudging a recipient's context. While all these issues seem innocent enough, the repercussions can be significant.
Misdirected emails are the leading cause of email data loss today. Just look at these statistics:
- The Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigation Report indicated that Insider threats represent 30-40% of data breaches in any given year.
- The UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO) security trend report shows that misdirected emails have been the No. 1 reported incident type for the last four years.
- According to Proofpoint research, 33% of employees send 1-2 misdirected emails per year.
Proofpoint Adaptive Email DLP to the rescue
As someone who’s worked in technology and cybersecurity for over 15 years, I can say I’ve never seen a technology solution—specifically a cybersecurity solution—garner as much excitement and demand as Adaptive Email DLP. Why? Because it solves an incredibly complex problem, and it does so quickly and easily with very little administrative oversight.
But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Patric Versteeg who’s a CISO at Viterra and has worked in cybersecurity for over 25 years; he said it best. What follows are a few highlights from his comments about using our solution.
It's highly effective and causes minimal user disruption
“If you look at other products, you need a lot of tuning, and there are a lot of false positives. And if you need to implement another policy, it's just a lot of work,” said Versteeg.
Adaptive Email DLP uses our industry-proven Proofpoint Nexus® Relation Graph. It leverages superior datasets—including over 12 months of email data—to make its predictions with high efficacy. It can be seamlessly integrated into daily workflows without compromising on security or disrupting end-users.
Time to value is fast
When it came to the ease of deploying Adaptive Email DLP, here’s how Versteeg summed up his experience: “It's so important to not stress out IT operations too much. And Adaptive Email DLP delivered just that. No drawn-out implementation time. No false positives. [It] just works out of the box. Start and run. Brilliant!”
In as little as 48 hours, Adaptive Email DLP automatically prevents data loss with minimal or ongoing configuration required. Contextual warnings empower users to correct mistakes before they happen. This reduces risk and post-breach remediation work.
Protect your organization with Adaptive Email DLP
At a time when data loss from misdirected emails is all too common, Adaptive Email DLP makes it easy to protect your organization. It’s a powerful solution that’s easy to deploy and use. With it, you can significantly mitigate the risks associated with misdirected emails as well as emails that are sent to unauthorized accounts.
By combining advanced Proofpoint Nexus behavioral AI, machine learning and superior data sets, Adaptive Email DLP helps you safeguard your sensitive data while empowering your employees to communicate effectively and securely.
The leader in human-centric security, Proofpoint secures more than half of the Fortune 100, including the Top 5 banks, 7 of the Top 10 global retailers, half of the Top 10 global pharma companies, and 14 of the Top 15 research universities.
To learn more, read our Adaptive Email DLP solution brief. Or visit our Adaptive Email DLP web page.