Dean Anderson, Commercial Director.

We spend a lot of time talking about keeping attackers out. Firewalls, endpoint protection, threat detection – all essential stuff. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most data losses don’t come from hackers breaking in. They come from the inside.

A departing employee copies the client list on their way out. Someone emails a sensitive spreadsheet to the wrong person. A team starts using a handy file-sharing app that IT never approved. Sound familiar? These aren’t dramatic cyber heists. They’re Tuesday.

At Cased Dimensions, we’ve spent 15 years protecting sensitive infrastructure across Ireland. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that organisations with solid Data Loss Prevention practices sleep a lot better than those without.

Where Data Actually Goes Missing

When we talk to businesses about data loss, they often picture hooded hackers in dark rooms. The reality is usually far more mundane:

Insiders – sometimes malicious, often just careless. That employee who’s leaving for a competitor? They might take more than their coffee mug.

Shadow IT – those unauthorised apps and cloud services your team adopted because they “just work better.” Research shows 80% of organisations have Shadow IT they don’t even know about.

Third parties – suppliers, contractors, partners. Once data leaves your environment, you’re trusting someone else’s security practices.

Attackers – yes, they’re still very much a threat. But they’re often not your biggest exposure.

The common thread? Data flowing through channels you’re not watching.

What Good Protection Looks Like

Data Loss Prevention isn’t about locking everything down and frustrating your team. Done badly, that’s exactly what happens, and people just find workarounds that make things worse.

Good DLP is about three things: knowing where your sensitive data lives, watching how it moves, and stepping in when something looks wrong.

That means protecting data wherever it sits – on servers, in cloud apps, on laptops. It means monitoring what’s being emailed, uploaded, or shared. And it means having policies that actually make sense for how your business operates.

The organisations that get this right take a phased approach. They start by discovering where data actually is (often eye-opening). Then they monitor patterns before enforcing rules. Heavy-handed blocking from day one just pushes people toward Shadow IT workarounds and creates friction with staff.

Here’s the key insight: when your team understands why data protection matters, they become part of the solution rather than the problem. Security awareness isn’t just training – it’s culture.

Why It’s Worth Your Attention Now

Three reasons this has moved up the priority list for most businesses:

Insurance. Cyber insurers increasingly want proof you’re protecting data properly. No documented DLP? Good luck getting favourable terms.

Regulation. GDPR, NIS2, and sector-specific requirements all carry real penalties for data breaches. “We didn’t know” isn’t a defence.

Reputation. A breach that exposes customer data doesn’t just cost money – it costs trust. That’s the one that keeps business owners up at night.

The good news? You don’t need a massive budget to get this right. You need a clear view of your data, sensible policies, and the right expertise to tie it together.

Ready to Take a Look?

Most organisations have gaps they don’t know about. That’s not a criticism – it’s just the reality of how data spreads across modern businesses.

At Cased Dimensions, we help organisations understand where their sensitive data lives, how it moves, and where the risks actually are. No scare tactics, just practical advice based on 15 years of protecting critical infrastructure.

Want to know where your gaps are? Get in touch – we’d be happy to chat.ds.