McAfee moves to arrest corporate data loss

McAfee has announced a foray into the increasingly crowded market for products to stop data loss in businesses.

McAfee Data Loss Prevention Host, or DLP Host, is a hardware and software package designed to help companies lessen the chances of their physical and electronic data being lost or stolen.

The package consists of software, as well as a server for logging and management that aims to make it easier for security administrators to monitor data activity, compile reports and manage company security policies from a central point. DLP Host also contains features for blocking sensitive data transfer, and providing protection for employees who are working remotely or off their corporate networks.

The protection measures in DLP Host additionally extend beyond strictly electronic data to prevent physical losses of items such as laptops, CDs, USB drives and printed documents.

This marks security veteran McAfee's entry into the data loss market, putting the company into a field that has been until this point dominated by smaller companies such as Code Green Networks, GTB Technologies and Vontu.

The threat of data loss has become an increasingly high profile issue in recent years, with government departments, public sector organisations and large and small businesses all suffering security breaches or data theft.

Caroline McCarthy writes for CNET News.com