Where DLP Falls Short in GDPR Compliance

DLP solutions play a role in GDPR compliance, but they are not designed to address the full scope of requirements. Here’s why: 

GDPR compliance begins with knowing where personal data resides. DLP solutions primarily monitor and block data in motion but do not provide visibility into stored or at-rest data. 

Risk: Without proper data discovery, organizations remain blind to unprotected personal data stored across systems, increasing compliance risks. 

GDPR requires companies to classify and label personal data to apply proper security controls. DLP tools lack the ability to automatically classify data based on content and context. 

Risk: If personal data is not classified, organizations cannot enforce appropriate protection measures or comply with GDPR data handling rules. 

GDPR mandates that individuals have the right to access, modify, and delete their data upon request. DLP solutions do not offer the ability to search and retrieve specific consumer data across all systems. 

Risk: Companies relying on DLP alone may struggle to locate personal data, leading to delays in fulfilling SARs and potential non-compliance fines. 

Under GDPR, consumers can request deletion of their personal data. DLP does not provide automated data remediation tools to identify, tag, and delete personal information. 

Risk: Without proper automation, companies must manually track and remove data, increasing the risk of non-compliance and operational inefficiencies. 

DLP is prone to false positives, flagging non-sensitive data as violations. This can lead to alert fatigue, ignored policies, and security gaps. 

Risk: Compliance teams waste time on unnecessary alerts while missing actual risks, reducing overall GDPR security effectiveness. 

Unlike DLP, Spirion takes a proactive approach to GDPR compliance by providing automated data discovery, classification, and remediation. Here’s how: 

• Comprehensive Data Discovery: Locates personal data at rest, in motion, and in the cloud across all systems. 
• Context-Aware Classification: Automatically tags PII, financial data, and other sensitive information with persistent labels. 
• Automated Remediation: Supports data deletion, access controls, and encryption to meet GDPR’s security requirements. 
• Subject Access Request (SAR) Support: Enables fast search and retrieval of customer data to fulfill GDPR requests. 
• Audit-Ready Compliance Reports: Provides detailed data governance reports for GDPR audits. 

While DLP plays a role in preventing data breaches, it does not provide the visibility, classification, and lifecycle management required for full GDPR compliance. Organizations that rely on DLP alone risk non-compliance, regulatory fines, and data security gaps. 

Spirion helps organizations meet GDPR requirements efficiently by providing automated data discovery, classification, and remediation—ensuring sensitive data is properly identified, secured, and managed.  To learn how Spirion can strengthen your GDPR compliance strategy, request a demo today.