Symantec Data Loss Prevention Reviews

We use the product to mitigate the malicious attack and prevent data loss for specific servers.

The product helps with blocking sensitive data transmission and permission management.

The product's technical support services need improvement.

We have been using Symantec Data Loss Prevention for three years.

It is a stable product. I rate its stability a nine out of ten.

We have 20 Symantec Data Loss Prevention users in our organization. We use it daily. I rate its scalability a seven out of ten.

The technical support team replies slowly. The process needs enhancement.

Positive

The initial setup takes a few days. However, overall, it requires a month to fine-tune the components. The deployment team includes one or two vendor executives and multiple teams from our organization. One executive can easily maintain the product. I rate the process a seven out of ten.

We take help from third-party integrators for product implementation.

The platform is not very expensive. I rate its pricing an eight out of ten.

I recommend Symantec Data Loss Prevention and rate it a seven out of ten.

It's important for information security due to the fact that it's a powerful solution. It defines sensitive secret data on the customer's environment and monitors for any breaches.

There are two things this solution has helped improve. 

In terms of the DLP, it can protect from data breaches in your company since you need to define secret and sensitive data in your organization. And the DLP solution monitors all of this data. For example, if you have personal data, you can define this data to the DLP, and then, if someone tries to send this data outside of your organization, this solution would prevent that data breach or generate an alert. 

The second way the DLP solution can help is by implementing best practices. For example, every organization has a business flow. This business flow can sometimes be wrong according to regulations. For example, with GDPR, if you are working with European customers, European clients, or European residents, you need to follow GDPR regulations. Or, if you are working with the payment industry or storing credit card data, you need to follow PCI DSS rules. This DLP solution can help customer organizations ensure they follow best practices.

The level of simplicity in terms of ease of use is moderate. It's not easy to implement. There are some requirements from organizations. For example, businesses must be rated to implement this solution. If businesses want to implement data loss prevention or information security policies, they have to be accredited. However, with Broadcom's product, it's easy to implement. There are modules you can deploy and use. It's easy to plan and easy to deploy, however, you do need to have a proper plan in place.

If we compare with other solutions, Broadcom's Symantec Data Loss Prevention has different kinds of detection techniques. It's just keyword, structural data, OCR, or a combination of all these metrics.

The accuracy in terms of the rate of detection is good. I have worked with big enterprises with this solution. For example, we had 30,000 endpoints with the data loss prevention solution, and I also managed 10,000 clients with Symantec Data Loss Prevention. The accuracy has been pretty good. You just need to fine-tune your policies. If you create policies in the proper way, Symantec works really well.

DLP helps us find sensitive data and apply policies based on user risk. First of all, we need to define which data is sensitive and which data is secret. DLP couldn't find it by itself. Therefore, we need to create a normal policy. Then DLP can manage this risk. 

The solution comes with a default configuration. This can be adjusted. If you need to follow GDPR requirements and GDPR defines your personal sensitive data, you can adjust for that. You can set predefined detectors. You can use this in a policy to protect yourself and ensure compliance.

DLP has helped to reduce the work or the time our DLP administrator spends on data loss protection.

It's a consistent product. You just need to create a policy one time, and then you can apply it to all of the channels you are monitoring.

I'm not sure about scanning speeds. In my previous experience, we had some problems and some speed issues. The data loss prevention feature is working pretty well; however, sometimes, if you want to discover or scan the data stored in the customer environment, it could take a long time. Sometimes the customer states, "I want to scan a computer," and it takes a few hours. It seems to sometimes be unnecessarily long. 

Reporting could be improved. The detection features are good, and the configuration is basic. It's really easy to use, or it's really to learn from scratch. However, the reporting features must be improved as the product doesn't provide us with many reporting screens. We only have an incident results screen, and we have filters we can use, and that's it. There are no other reporting features. It's really limited. 

I've been using the solution for five years. 

The scalability is easy. You just need to install core components and then you scale. You create a new server, and then you can add 10,000 clients, for example. 

I work with Symantec technical support. If you don't have premium support; it's not easy to fix your issues via technical support.

I've not had the best support experience. I know for other products it's the same. Technical support is usually the weakest part of the company if you are creating a ticket to fix an issue. It was really hard to manage the ticket status. You're always waiting for someone else just to get back to you. It's not easy to manage support. You really need to push them to fix issues. They always say the same thing, and it takes a long time to resolve things. 

I've worked with other support teams, and they have been pretty good. For example, the encryption support team is very good. This support team, you really have to push to escalate. 

Negative

I used, for a limited time, ForcePoint DLP and McAfee DLP.

I've handled deployments in the past. I've deployed four or five organizations from scratch.

The setup process is moderate in terms of difficulty. You need to plan which channels you want to monitor. This solution uses Oracle Database, and you need to calculate scalability and extensions. It's not too easy, and it's not the hardest.

If you deploy the DLP properly, you need to have business support from the business side. Two or three people can deploy this solution or all required service policies, et cetera. However, we need support from the organization since you couldn't define a policy by yourself. You need to understand what data is important and which data is sensitive. You need to talk with all of the stakeholders. For example, software developers. You need to sit with them, and you need to talk about what they are working on, and which data is important. You need to talk with human resources, finance, the entire company.

Generally, we deploy the solution in a central way. We will have one central management console and then granular access for stakeholders. For other business functions, for example, we can create a GDPR policy for the HR business since we need to follow the guidelines. And then, other shareholders can access the central data to granular access. 

In the past, I have deployed 26 DLP components into an organization with 2000 clients. It was a huge project.

Once deployed, you need to maintain the solution. You need to follow product updates. Databases are updated with new features and security fixes. A database update is not very common. You just need to update the database once a year. Also, for example, if a new Windows or Google Chrome, or Firefox version becomes available, you will also need to update your DLP product. Every three or four months, you likely have maintenance tasks related to updates. 

I work as an integrator. I work with clients and customers and uncover what they want to achieve, what their situation is, and which resources they have got in their data center. Once I have completed deployment with them, I work as an integrator and as a consultant.

I am not aware of the exact pricing of the solution. 

I have worked with different customers, and we have evaluated different DLP solutions for our customers. However, all of my experience is a limited experience. I have one year of experience with ForcePoint and McAfee DLP.  

Customers or enterprises looking for the best detection options would need to look at Symantec Data Loss Prevention as it has the best detection options. 

The other solutions just follow basic keyword detection. A complete DLP solution should monitor all of the other aspects. Symantec has powerful monitoring features and options that can provide us with much more than just basic options.

I work as an integrator.

While the solution may support Mac and Linux, Windows endpoints are more important. Every business uses IT directories and manages internal clients with Windows. Symantec already supports Mac endpoints, just not Linux clients or Linux agents. However, that's not a common thing anyway. It's a special condition. You will need a Linux agent if you are using those servers in your environment. Generally, we don't need to install a server-level agent. We also monitor a gateway-level inspection. For example, if your server is open to the internet, generally from a security perspective, the security personnel must follow a gateway-level inspection.

And the end of the day, this works for a Windows client. Generally, we don't require Linux agents for the data loss prevention solution. However, it depends on the business and it depends on the environment.

If someone just wants to use the cheapest option available, they likely will get just keyword detection. They might not get OCR or email attachment monitoring. 

I cannot say that Symantec has helped reduce operating costs. However, I can say that, in general, if you don't lose data, you don't lose money.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. The reporting and technical support are not the greatest; however, overall, the product is good.

If an organization has a proper data classification solution or qualification levels in their organization, a DLP implementation will be much easier for them. Otherwise, they will have to work on their DLP deployment policy creation, and then they have to create a data classification policy. 

The primary use case for this solution is ensuring compliance. Organizations that handle sensitive data find it crucial to implement a data loss prevention solution to prevent unauthorized data breaches.

One of the most valuable aspects of this solution is its integration capabilities with Office 365. This integration enables comprehensive monitoring and control over data leaving the organization.

A significant area for improvement in the product is reducing the number of agents required and improving integration as a unified client ecosystem.

Integrating artificial intelligence to automate policy creation based on user behavior and data sensitivity would be highly beneficial

I have been using Symantec DLP since 2013.

I rate the product stability an eight. 

I rate the product scalability an eight or nine out of ten. 

Symantec has a good support network. However, since the acquisition by Broadcom, support has become more challenging, although some regions still provide excellent support.

The installation process for this solution, based on my experience, is straightforward and user-friendly, ensuring minimal disruption during deployment.

It can be deployed on-premises and in hybrid models, providing flexibility to organizations based on their specific security and operational needs.

The product is high-priced. However, it is worth it for the comprehensive data protection it provides.

We have considered products from other vendors like Microsoft, Forcepoint, McAfee, and Trend Micro. However, Symantec covers all aspects and use cases effectively.

Incident response capabilities are integral to this solution's functionality. It features robust workflow controls that facilitate timely and effective responses to security incidents.

I rate it a nine out of ten.

We use Symantec DLP for endpoint, network, and storage data loss prevention. Symantec DLP is deployed across multiple locations and departments, covering around 10,000 users. 

With Symantec DLP, we can identify where most of our sensitive data resides. By scanning the database and file server, we can find sensitive data and determine how people use it with the analytical view. For example, we discovered someone copying some sensitive data and project information during their two-week notice period. The SOP for any solution implemented in the infrastructure is placed in SharePoint. They tried to copy that information and send it to their personal email. We identified the potential leak and notified the leaders of the firm.

The endpoint DLP isn't something that provides 100 percent coverage. It is a strategic solution and a process by which we strengthen rules and policies for detecting and identifying sensitive information and how it can leave the company. The DLP solution doesn't provide total coverage, but it can protect about 70 percent of our daily process activity. It also reduces the time DLP admins spend on these tasks by about 20 percent.

Symantec also helps us meet our regulatory requirements. Symantec DLP has preset rules for PCI DSS compliance that we can use to monitor if any users are sending credit card numbers to outside parties. It has similar features for compliance with GDPR and other types of regulations.

The most valuable aspect of Symantec DLP is its broad coverage. Symantec DLP covers USB, Outlook email clients, and web traffic. If we install the endpoint DLP, we can cover multiple channels, including the clipboard and printer. 

What distinguishes Symantec from other solutions is the technology to create policies based on our customer's requirements, like ID items and index documents. We can fingerprint our documents so that any attempt to send the data outside the organization is detected. Symantec DLP has Described Content Matching if you need to send unstructured data. We can carry out the rule with the Described Content Matching technology. 

This enables us to create multiple rules. Symantec offers various technologies, like Index Document Matching, Described Content Matching, and Exact Data Matching. We can also create rules for structured data stored in the Excel database.

In addition to these features, Symantec DLP also provides email traffic monitoring, giving us visibility into on-prem Exchange email servers and cloud-based tools like Office 365. We can extend DLP detection to all email and SMTP traffic. 

I rate Symantec DLP a ten out of ten for ease of use and implementation. It's easier to use than other DLP solutions. 

The detection capabilities are also excellent. I rate Symantec DLP eight and a half out of ten for detection. I give Symantec an eight out of ten for accuracy and seven out of ten for scanning speed. 

Symantec DLP doesn't provide complete cloud coverage. We need another DLP solution to monitor our cloud applications. 

I've used Symantec DLP for around five years.

Symantec DLP is stable. 

Symantec DLP is scalable.

I rate Symantec's support an eight out of ten. 

Positive

I used Forcepoint and McAfee. Symantec is easier to implement and manage. The coverage is also better. Symantec easily covers email and web traffic. I rate Symantec's detention capabilities an eight out of ten versus seven for Forcepoint and five for McAfee.

Deploying Symantec DLP is a little complex. We had to create an Oracle database when we implemented the solution. That part was difficult, but the rest was straightforward. 

There are three phases of implementation and many tasks in the beginning. First, we had to identify our sensitive data, where they are, and how they are being used. It was a long process initially. After finding all those things, we implemented the DLP solution in the infrastructure. We had been using an endpoint DLP, which didn't cover most email traffic, so we implemented email and web DLP.

We had to do a lot of work in the early stages, but the solution doesn't need much oversight once it's mature in the infrastructure. One or two people can manage it. I and one of my team members administer it. Two other people handle the incident management. Few changes are required after it is fully deployed and mature. You occasionally need to modify some rules and add some exceptions. 

The initial installation took about a week, but it takes nearly a month to configure all the policies. Two admins and one engineer were responsible for the deployment. Maintenance involves the database, networking team, and DLP teams. That's five people altogether.

Symantec saves us time and costs. It enables us to easily monitor all the incidents and quickly configure policies. The solution reduced our operating costs by about 20 to 25 percent. 

Symantec's pricing is competitive. I would recommend Symantec DLP over cheaper solutions because it provides a broader range of detection across various channels that isn't easy to achieve with other solutions. The solution also makes compliance with multiple regulatory regimes easier. 

I rate Symantec Data Loss Prevention an eight out of ten. 

It helps us meet requirements. There is no product that gives you 100 percent coverage, but it's quite an improvement. It gives us added value.

When it comes to operational costs, a lot of false positives have been eliminated. It's an ongoing activity.

It has good options for policy findings. You can do granular policy enhancements with multiple options. And the SMB blocking is a very good feature.

Other good features include 

• application control
• integration with other proxy servers
• data discovery.

And the dashboard is very user-friendly. The solution is very easy to use, if you know the baselines, concepts, and how to implement things, it's very easy.

In terms of detection, that's up to us to decide exactly what we want. Whatever we have found has been worth it.

Symantec Data Loss Prevention also supports Macs and Linux. It's up to you how you filter your traffic. A normal user's machine should not have Linux. Usually, that would be a server-level operating system, but there are different controls for different operating systems.

I have been using Symantec Data Loss Prevention for over 10 years.

We use the violations that we see to understand the new techniques used to bypass data leakage. When there is any such "enhancement," we provide it to Symantec, and they work on it to give us a fix for it.

Where things could be improved is that product engineering takes time to respond when we make a request. They get on a call for troubleshooting, but fixing the issue takes time. Symantec was bought by Broadcom.

Positive

Compared to competitors, it gives added value, but not every product gives you everything. Compared to other solutions, Symantec DLP is very good when it comes to the quality of detection.

If you're thinking of using a cheaper solution, often, it's only when a breach happens that management puts money into cyber security. These are very critical functions and these controls are necessary to know what your employees are doing and what kind of data is going out, is in ingress, or in motion. Security can't be compromised. There is no cheap product. Evaluate what your company requires.

If that kind of security is required, I would recommend Symantec DLP. It depends on your needs.

I like how I have the possibility to check different channels with the same policy set.

The machine learning solution is very good. Many of our partners are not using mostly the machine learning function yet, however, the index document matching, the IDM, and the actual data matching function are the most useful. Those are very, very good functions of the DLP.

The OCR functionality could be better. We have OCR functionality. However, it is not as effective. It could be more effective. They need to work on the function that can catch PDF 5 and PDF 5 based on pictures, images, JPEGs, and so on, with text-to-all content. The main goal of this is to check those pictures against corporate policies.

I'd like it if, in DLP, the agent could have more detection capabilities.

Currently, many features can work only with Endpoint Prevention, Network Prevention, and Email Prevention. Those capabilities do not work on the Endpoint Prevent and Endpoint Detection. 

They need to expand the channels they check. It could be wider. So it should be able to check, for example, WhatsApp and mobile solutions, mobile communications, Facebook, et cetera. We're worried about data leakage on these channels. 

I've been using the solution for six to eight years.

In terms of stability, we have issues, yet not too many. The basic functionality works fine. In my opinion, it is one of the best of the market.

The solution is scalable. 

We can use it in a single tier if there are not too many users and agents. That said, it can be easily extended to use as many server components as we would like. If there are too many people, 4,000 or 5,000 agents and users, we can use 10 or 15 servers. There is no problem with the scalability of DLP. 

On two or three servers, we have around 1,000 agents. Not more than that.

I have problems with Symantec technical support. It is too slow. There are also problems with competency. With the time factor, the reaction time and response time are very long. There was a situation where I had 168 hours between the initial outreach and response. It was not the best for my customer and for me.

Neutral

I did not previously use a different solution. 

The setup is a bit complex due to the Oracle database. I now have many problems installing and managing the Oracle database. At the moment, I just have a huge problem upgrading Oracle 12 to Oracle 19. It is not too easy. That said, if Oracle and the basic DLP are installed, then it can go smoothly. Afterward, there are no problems with it.

I am not a sales. However, I see Symantec's prices are the highest in the market.

The technical solution is quite good, however, when the customer sees the prices, they tend to say "Okay. It is very good, yet we do need to choose a cheaper one."

I'm a reseller and integrator.

I am just upgrading the previous version, 15.5, to the newest one, 15.8.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

I use Symantec Data Loss Prevention since it is a product that is currently involved in an API-level integration with Google Chrome while ensuring that users get to avail some advanced features in the current version of the solution, making it an overall good tool.

The most valuable feature of the solution is its OCR process for image recognition. Symantec Data Loss Prevention can extract all the data from the image. In scenarios where a user may be trying to get some screenshots of certain confidential documents, Symantec Data Loss Prevention will extract whatever data is included in that image, after which it may block the user who was involved in the act.

Symantec Data Loss Prevention's AI technology has certain shortcomings where improvements can be made. Some source code developer companies may have multiple source code data available, and our company may upload such multiple source code data, which may go up to 50 GB of data in Symantec Data Loss Prevention, and expect the AI part to look into what should be the confidential part in such a file so that we can create a policy in our company to manage what should be blocked or allowed.

I have been using Symantec Data Loss Prevention for two years.

It is a stable solution. With Symantec Data Loss Prevention, I have never experienced any downtime.

It is a scalable solution.

The solution's technical support was good. The technical support team of Symantec used to take up cases or issues on priority.

For Symantec Data Loss Prevention, my company needs to deploy a database from Oracle and add a detection server depending on the organization's needs. A company can proceed with either a two-tier deployment or a three-tier deployment. A database from Symantec needs to be included during the deployment process compulsorily.

The solution can be deployed in a day or two. Preparing the database takes one day, and adding Symantec's detection server takes around 30 to 60 minutes.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

Right now, my company seems to be interested in Censornet's DLP product features.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it since it offers all the good features, along with a good GUI and user experience.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

Our customers mostly use it for data discovery, content monitoring, and policy enforcement.

The most valuable aspect of Symantec DLP is its powerful policy system. It helps us control data, like making sure nothing leaves our setup. The policy management console is user-friendly, and it offers a range of options to suit our specific requirements.

There is room for improvement in the remote control capabilities of the DLP solution. Currently, if the client-side agent is not installed, there are limited features available, and remote management through the manager portal is lacking. This is particularly important for users on VPN who would benefit from full remote control and management features.

I have been using Symantec Data Loss Prevention for a year.

If we had the remote control feature, it would significantly improve the overall stability level of the solution. I would rate the stability as an eight out of ten.

I would rate the scalability of Symantec Data Loss Prevention as a seven out of ten. It could use some improvement. We have eight users of the solution at our company. This product is not designed for small or medium businesses; it is intended for enterprise-level use, particularly in sectors like banking, finance, and insurance. We currently serve about ten enterprise customers who utilize the DLP features of the product. We have a few hundred clients using the solution.

I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten. It is fantastic.

Positive

Our deployment process begins by understanding the customer's requirements and ensuring they have the necessary server infrastructure in place. We then install our DLP product on the customer's site and set up data agents. The customer is responsible for installing the agent on their users' devices. We proceed by creating and applying data protection policies tailored to their specific data requirements. Many of our customers have a lot of sensitive data, so they worry about its safety even after we've applied the rules. I would rate the easiness of the initial setup as a seven out of ten. It is quite user-friendly. The deployment time for this product varies based on customer needs and availability. If everything goes smoothly, it typically takes around one and a half months to deploy all the necessary components, including agents and other requirements. 

I am a technical person, so I don't have specific pricing details. However, I consider it to be in the average to moderately expensive range because it is tailored for enterprise use, not SMBs. Pricing can vary depending on specific needs and configurations.

My advice to people who are considering implementing Symantec DLP is to request a demo to see how it works and experience its features. Subscribing to these features, applying policies, and learning about the advantages will help them make an informed decision about whether it meets their specific needs. Overall, I would rate it as an eight out of ten.