I have to agree with Allen on this. You need to have a good test plan but I
also think you have to remember that DLP is no security silver bullet. It
will not cure cancer but it can stop a lot of things. You just need to test
to find out what it does stop and what it doesn't and find another
product/solution to protect against that threat.

As other people have mentioned Vontu will not stop your user booting into a
liveCD and grabbing the files but thats why you would want Whole Disk
Encryption.

Cheers

Duncan

2009/10/23 <[email protected]>

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> I’m usually pretty “good” at picking up sarcasm but I’m fairly sure
> that was the actual suggestion.
>
> I can see the logic behind just testing for accidental DLP, most
> infosec pro’s know better then to trust some DLP black box solution
> to stop a really determined attacker/corporate spy.  If your
> looking to do checkbox security, deploy and forget is a completely
> valid approach to DLP.   For the sake of staying on topic I won’t
> delve into that philosophical mine field.
>
> I will however indulge in some product testing philosophy. As a
> professional your test plan needs to demonstrate both products
> strength and its weakness’s.  A test plan should be fair and
> methodical, use an objective scoring system, sidebar opinions and
> follow a written test plan.  Don’t include assumptions or opinions
> about a product or technology, your just there to test what works
> and what doesn’t.
>
> For DLP you don’t just want to test if it can see a random SSN in a
> plain text email.  Don’t forget about the “clever” user who will
> password protect a zip or excel sheet to make it “secure”, change
> file extensions or screen shot customer data in your billing
> system.  If someone uses PGP in a year to push the client list out
> of your company, you won’t regret documenting that a product cannot
> protect against that. When testing a product, what’s not included
> in the test plan is much more likely to haunt you later.
>
> If you’re a security decision maker, then game changes. You need to
> really assess how this product fits into your overall security
> strategy, how much of what this product offers can done with
> another product in house?  Most anti-spam solution’s should have
> quite a few useful features to leverage.  Once you have that list
> of missing features, now find that TCO and THEN assess the decision
> from a business health perspective.
>
> When your looking for long term health and real security; "only
> test the product in the vendors provided scope" ends up costing
> both you and your empolyer in the long run.
>
> - -- Allen
>
>
> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:34:19 -0400 [email protected] wrote:
> >I am notoriously bad at picking up on sarcasm over email,
> >especially
> >lacking the appropriate <sarcasm> tag, but are you seriously
> >suggesting
> >tailoring the testing to only highlight the features that you know
>
> >work? I
> >can understand wanting to demonstrate what would get caught, but
> >the real
> >value of testing this system is to find out where the weakness
> >exist so
> >that appropriate controls can be added to reduce those risks. The
> >testing
> >methodology should be expansive enough to use as education for the
>
> >idiots.
> >
> >On Oct 22, 2009 2:14pm, Chris Merkel <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> I agree with Ron - DLP is an "idiot screen" and is useful for
> >little
> >
> >> more. Therefore, your testing methodology should be to emulate
> >idiots
> >
> >> and nothing more. (and educate any idiot who thinks it will
> >solve your
> >
> >> leakage issues.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> On 10/22/09, xgermx [email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> > Create a small TrueCrypt container, copy sensitive files to
> >container,
> >> copy
> >
> >> > container to usb or email container.
> >
> >> >
> >
> >> > On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:38 AM, Brian Schultz
> >
> >> > [email protected]>wrote:
> >
> >> >
> >
> >> >> Our security department is testing out Symantec's Vontu and I
>
> >am
> >> playing
> >
> >> >> the guinea pig and have to try and get documents out of our
> >company's
> >
> >> >> environment. I have a really basic understanding of how it
> >works. It
> >> has a
> >
> >> >> span port sitting and listening to all outgoing web traffic
> >and there
> >> is
> >
> >> >> also an agent that sits on desktops and watches to see if any
>
> >sensitive
> >
> >> >> information leaves via USB drive or e-mail.
> >
> >> >>
> >
> >> >> Does anyone have any whitepapers or info regarding how it
> >actually
> >> works
> >
> >> >> or
> >
> >> >> any tactics I should try?
> >
> >> >>
> >
> >> >> _______________________________________________
> >
> >> >> Pauldotcom mailing list
> >
> >> >> [email protected]
> >
> >> >> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-
> >bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom
> >
> >> >> Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
> >
> >> >>
> >
> >> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> --
> >
> >> Sent from my mobile device
> >
> >
> >
> >> - Chris Merkel
> >
> >> _______________________________________________
> >
> >> Pauldotcom mailing list
> >
> >> [email protected]
> >
> >> http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom
> >
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