Securing Data at Rest, Data in Transit, Data in Use Explained

In today's era of rapid development of digitalization and networking, data has become the core asset of enterprises. However, data does not exist in a single form, it will be in different states depending on different business scenarios and usage methods. Understanding and protecting the three states of data – Data at Rest, Data in Transit, and Data in Use – is the first step to achieving comprehensive data security.

Data at Rest, Data in Transit, Data In Use Explained

What is data at rest?

Data at rest refers to data that is stored in servers, databases, mobile hard drives, or cloud storage for a long time. Although this type of data is "static", it often contains the most core and sensitive information of the enterprise, such as customer information, intellectual property rights, financial statements, etc. Once the storage environment is compromised, attackers can steal this information for a long time and silently, so encryption and access control are key to data security at rest.

What is data in transit?

Data in transit refers to the process of data flowing between different nodes, such as sending emails, uploading and downloading files, and making interactive calls to APIs. Because data needs to cross network environments, it is highly susceptible to eavesdropping, interception, or tampering during transmission. To ensure integrity and confidentiality, it is essential to rely on transport layer encryption (such as TLS/SSL), VPNs, and zero-trust architectures to mitigate risk.

What is data in use?

Data in use refers to data that is being processed in real time by a system, application, or user, such as a document being edited, real-time transaction data being analyzed, or a program running in memory. This type of data is more risky than at rest and in transit, as it usually exists in memory in plaintext and is difficult to cover by traditional encryption methods. Therefore, for the security of data in use, it is necessary to rely on more advanced technologies, such as memory protection, data isolation, behavior monitoring, etc.

The Importance of Secure Data at Rest, Data in Transit, Data In Use

True data security is not just for a certain link, but a systematic process throughout the life cycle. Whether data is hibernating on the hard drive, traveling through the network, or being called in real time in the business, there should be corresponding protection measures. CyberServal DLP provider, designed Next-Gen DLP (DDR) with this concept in mind, providing unified and intelligent security protection across all scenarios of data rest, transmission, and use, helping enterprises reduce the risk of leakage and defend against complex internal and external threats.

How CyberServal Next-Gen DLP(DDR) secure data at rest？

Data asset management: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR's data asset discovery function can continuously detect the data distribution in the enterprise office domain, automatically discover data assets, and perform clustering and feature extraction through the sample training mechanism to form an identification model and classify the discovery results. This indicates that it manages and classifies the data stored on the endpoint.

Discover Shadow Assets:CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR is able to discover shadow assets in the enterprise, as well as "undiscovered assets within the enterprise", which are typically data at rest that is not approved or managed by the IT department.

Regular scanning: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR can periodically scan user endpoints for sensitive files that do not comply with regulatory requirements.

Data asset map: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR helps enterprises map their data assets, clearly showing how much data they have, what data is sensitive, and where they are stored.

How CyberServal Next-Gen DLP(DDR) secure data in transit?

Egress Data Transmission Channel Monitoring: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR provides comprehensive monitoring of egress data transmission channels at the endpoint level, with the ability to restrict or block sensitive data transmission, ensuring the effectiveness of data transfer policies and user activity audits even in remote work environments.

Network traffic monitoring: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR's event collection module captures operating system behavior data through various interfaces such as file system, process, registry, and network traffic.

Browser Data Leak Prevention (BDLP): CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR has a variety of technologies to identify data in transit on the browser, including SSL encrypted traffic detection, decryption, and content identification, and control file uploads, downloads, and URL access, effectively blocking sensitive data in the browser.

Data Flow Tracing: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR can hook application layer file transfer points to monitor outgoing channels such as USB devices, instant messaging applications, web applications (browsers), and LAN shares. It enables full-chain data flow tracing from data download and local processing to outgoing transmission.

Git/FTP/SMB/HTTP/HTTPS and other protocol monitoring: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR's product architecture diagram and application scenarios show that it monitors data transmission in various network protocols (such as Git, FTP, SMB, HTTP/HTTPS, RDP, SCP), as well as in mail (Outlook, Foxmail, Gmail) and cloud applications (OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox).

How CyberServal Next-Gen DLP(DDR)  secure data in use?

Continuous monitoring of data movement and usage: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR intelligently identifies confidential data and continuously monitors its movement. When a data breach occurs, it can respond swiftly, trace the source, and prevent its spread, and assist managers in monitoring the use of sensitive data within the enterprise to ensure compliance and appropriate use.

User activity and operation logs: The product captures user activities and records user operation logs through the endpoint agent, including user editing, copying, pasting and other operations on files.

Dynamic Decision Center: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR's dynamic decision center supports dynamically moderating user access to sensitive files or blocking abnormal access. It adjusts user and device permissions based on data breach risk level, user behavior, and device trust score, combined with policies in place. This is directly aimed at controls when data is manipulated and accessed.

Clipboard Activity: In Internal/External Risk Management, DDR explicitly outlines the monitoring of clipboard activity.

Data Manipulation Events: Also in risk management, the collection of Data Manipulation Events is mentioned.

Real-time user behavior collection and analysis: CyberServal next-gen data loss prevention solution, DDR collects user behavior on endpoints in real time, analyzes user status and abnormal behavior, and uses trust algorithms to make real-time decisions on risky behavior

Secure Data with CyberServal Best Practices

Data security is not only about the concept, but also about the practice. CyberServal Next-Gen DLP (DDR) helps organizations protect data at rest, in transit and in use through data asset management, transit channel monitoring, and real-time usage monitoring. Want to learn more about the importance and practices of dynamic data protection? Read the article Why Monitoring Dynamic Data is Crucial for Modern Data Security and CyberServal DDR: Augmenting DSPM with Dynamic Data Protection, and subscribe to our website for the latest updates and security insights.