There is one thing that most law enforcement, disaster recovery and emergency response teams are likely to agree on: the best way to address these events is to prevent them from happening in the first place. It is far easier to put the necessary protocol and prevention tools in place beforehand than it is to deal with cleaning up the mess afterward. This holds true for nearly every form of emergency. Unfortunately, there are some disasters that are impossible to prevent completely. But for data loss, the organization involved has much more control.

"Many organizations are still unsure of exactly how to deploy data loss prevention tools."

Data loss prevention (DLP) tools have been around for nearly a decade, according to TechTarget, but many organizations are still unsure of exactly how to deploy them or which ones to use. While there are various tools these teams have at their disposal, biometric technology is perhaps the most reliable.

The direction of the DLP industry
For most companies, it isn't a question of adopting tools that would prevent data loss – by and large, organizations have some practice in place. Rather, it's a matter of using the right tools, in the right places, and to the right degree.

"A lot of people in that small to medium size space are more concerned with survival, ease of use and convenience in their day-to-day operations than what are effective best practice security controls," Geoff Harris, director of York, U.K.-based Alderbridge Consulting Ltd., told TechTarget. "Unless organizations have to meet industry compliance standards or government criteria, often they will sail by and avoid implementing these things."

While doing the bare minimum is not an ideal way to conduct business, Harris has a point – no company wants to disrupt the workplace or their employees' days with stringent security systems. That's why these organizations would do well to implement biometric access control wherever applicable. This technology is sophisticated, yet simple and non-intrusive. It allows individuals with adequate credentials to be granted access to appropriate areas via fingerprint scanner. In this way, an organization won't have to worry about the wrong people accessing, stealing or unknowingly spilling sensitive information.

Department of Justice provides plan of action
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has a cybersecurity unit that focuses on protecting the country's digital assets and valuable information from malicious hackers. But the team also has advice for organizations seeking to shore up their own defenses, reported the National Law Review. The DoJ also recognized the steps before a disaster as the most crucial part of security.

Most of the cyberthreat prevention techniques involved identifying the most valuable assets and developing a company wide protocol in the event of a breach. But most importantly, the DoJ emphasized having "appropriate technology and services in place before an intrusion occurs." That means taking advantage of access control systems like biometric technology to prevent the wrong people from accessing important areas and server cabinets. Best of all, some biometric security systems can function even when the network is down.