Why Partial DLP Coverage Leaves Your Data Exposed – And How to Fix It

“We have a DLP tool, but we still had no idea this much data was exposed.”

At first, hearing this common refrain from security leaders comes as a shock. But if you know about the limitations of legacy data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, this statement makes perfect sense. 

Legacy DLP can leave security teams with the assumption that they have full control over their data risk profile and vectors. In reality, blind spots can occur in any security configuration. If you’re only watching half the exit doors, these blind spots become a much bigger problem than just risk: you’re facing opportunities for bad actors to make their way into your systems, on top of trying to manage insider risk.

It’s worth taking a deeper look into your attack surfaces to understand what’s at risk and fully understand why partial DLP coverage is the same as no coverage at all.  

The Hidden Doors That Open Up Risk

Because traditional DLP solutions often only monitor certain channels, typically email and files. Exfiltration risk is everywhere:

• Browsers: Uploading documents that contain PII to a personal Dropbox 
• SaaS apps: Downloading internal contracts from Google Drive to an unmanaged laptop 
• Personal devices: Copying files to an external storage device op
• Chatbots: Sharing sensitive code with a GenAI tool
• Clipboard: Pasting customer information from Salesforce and into Gmail 

If your DLP solution doesn’t cover these vectors, your data is not protected. This fragmented coverage leaves sensitive data vulnerable to accidental and intentional leaks. And as digital sprawl continues to grow unchecked, that means more unsecured doors that could be opened without any visibility or control on your end.

What Matters with DLP Coverage 

Modern DLP needs to do more than watch email attachments. It should give you:

• Visibility across all SaaS apps 
• Real-time detection for browser uploads, copy/paste, and text entry events
• Context-aware coverage on macOS and Windows including clipboard, sync, and downloads
• Policy control for unmanaged devices, even without an agent installed
• Data lineage that includes full context for content and user behavior—not just file names and keywords

Protecting data across multiple environments also requires a robust culture of security. Modern DLP solutions should include real-time options for alerting users about potentially risky actions they’re taking, automated remediation for data and files that need to be restricted, and coaching communications to help users understand why those actions are not allowed.

Nightfall: Built-In Full-Stack Coverage for Modern Data Protection

Nightfall brings data lineage, full visibility, and remediation options into one AI-native DLP platform. We built our platform to cover where data actually moves for a full view into a company’s risk profile. Go beyond where legacy tools used to look with these features:

• Real-time browser monitoring of uploads, copy/paste, and genAI use
• SaaS app integration across a wide range of platforms
• Endpoint monitoring for macOS and Windows (downloads, USB, clipboard)
• Full context and content inspection, powered by LLMs
• Blocking risky file activity to stop data loss before it happens
• Automatic alerting and real-time remediation to support coaching and educating users on how to work with data securely

If your current solution only covers email and files, it does not provide full coverage. With Nightfall, you can protect everything that matters with fewer false positives, less noise, and more confidence that leads to real control over risk.

Secure the channels and data that legacy DLP can’t. Request a demo to see how Nightfall can transform your data security.