Cyber-attacks directed against enterprises have grown both in numbers and sophistication over the past decade to a point where breach and data theft have become inevitable, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). In 2013, more than 800 million records were exposed as a result of data breach incidents.

A number of organizations including online auction site eBay, U.S. retailer Target, telecom operator AT&T, and social networking sites Facebook, Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn have reported massive data breaches in recent months, according to the research group. Hacking remains the leading cause for most attacks followed by malware and physical attacks such as point-of-sale intrusions and card skimming.

A data breach incident can have disastrous consequences on all businesses resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue and potential fines, not to mention the lingering impact on a company’s brand image and reputation. Most data breaches have a significant and measurable impact on customers’ loyalty and spending habits. This has become a matter of grave concern for business managers and consequently led to the demand for solutions and services targeted at enterprise-wide data loss, protection and prevention.

ABI Research calculates that the market for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions will hit $1.7 billion by the end of 2014. An effective data protection strategy requires solutions that protect data across databases, applications, networks, and endpoint devices and DLP solutions do just that. DLP solutions offer content-based recognition, comprehensive coverage across physical, application, and network channels and device control framework at the endpoints.

"If implemented carefully, DLP solutions can mitigate data loss risks, comply with government regulations, and protect customer privacy," says Monolina Sen, ABI Research’s senior analyst in cybersecurity. "The market is dominated by established security vendors such as Trend Micro, Symantec, McAfee, Websense, and RSA."