Concentric AI Introduces Industry’s First AI-based Microsoft Copilot Access Governance Solution
Read Now
• January 16, 2025

A guide to remote employee tracking and data leak prevention 

Reading time: 8 mins
banner-bg-dawn

While the shift to remote and hybrid work has opened up a world of opportunities for productivity, the challenges it brings about for maintaining data security keep growing. With employees accessing sensitive data from everything everywhere all at once, organizations are increasingly at risk of data leaks and unauthorized access. 

To address these risks, businesses are turning to strategies and tools that help monitor employee activity and prevent data leaks. The problem is, they need to do it while respecting privacy and maintain trust. This balance, while delicate, is key — it’s all about protecting critical assets without creating an overly invasive or restrictive environment. 

What is remote employee tracking? 

Remote employee tracking uses technology to monitor work-related activities, such as application usage, data access and file sharing for employees working outside the traditional office setting (which covers a high percentage of the workforce).  

Tracking is often achieved through tools that log user behavior, monitor access to systems, and flag unusual or unauthorized actions. Importantly, the focus is not on invasive or aggressive surveillance; instead, it’s to ensure that sensitive data remains secure and that employees follow company access policies while working remotely. 

Combined with robust data security measures like Data Loss Prevention (DLP), organizations can achieve a cohesive framework for protecting data without compromising productivity. 

What is data leakage? 

Data leakage occurs when confidential data, whether by human error or through negligent actions, finds its way outside the boundaries of an organization. Unlike data exfiltration, data leakage might not always stem from malicious intent. However, data leakage can be equally damaging. 

It could be an employee accidentally forwarding an email containing sensitive data to the wrong recipient or even sharing that email with their own personal email account. Often, data leakage is due to misconfigurations that leave data exposed to unauthorized entities. 

The implications of data leakage are wide-ranging, including legal consequences, loss of customer trust, and exposure of intellectual property to competitors. 

What are some of the more common data leakage methods? 

Accidental sharing: Sensitive data might be shared unintentionally with external parties due to misaddressed emails or incorrect file attachments. Sharing can also be with too many recipients or even with personal email accounts. 

Cloud storage vulnerabilities: Data stored in the cloud may be exposed due to misconfigurations, inadequate access controls, or failure to administer secure data storage practices. 

Removable media: Data transferred to external storage devices like USB drives or external hard drives without encryption or security checks may accessed by unauthorized individuals, especially if lost or stolen. 

Insecure network traffic: Transmitting data over networks without deploying secure communication protocols such as VPNs or encrypted connections can leave data vulnerable to interception by malicious actors. 

Tracking employee activity helps identify and mitigate these risks before they escalate. It also helps organizations enforce compliance with regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA by monitoring how sensitive data is accessed and shared. 

What are the benefits of remote employee tracking and data leak prevention? 

In a distributed work environment, protecting sensitive data requires more than traditional security measures. Remote employee tracking and data leak prevention offer organizations the ability to maintain oversight and control over their data, even when accessed from outside the typically safe confines of secure office networks. 

Key benefits include: 

  • Reduced risk of data exposure: Monitoring access and behavior helps detect anomalies that may indicate a breach or misuse of information. 
  • Enhanced compliance: Organizations can generate audit logs and reports to demonstrate adherence to regulatory requirements. 
  • Proactive incident response: By identifying unusual activity early, security teams can address potential threats before they result in significant damage. 
  • Improved data governance: Tracking ensures that only authorized users access sensitive information, supporting the principle of least privilege. 

What are the challenges and risks in Remote Employee Tracking? 

Implementing remote employee tracking and data leak prevention requires organizations to balance security, privacy, and practicality. While the tools and strategies are powerful, success depends on thoughtful deployment and ongoing management. 

Common challenges: 

  • Privacy concerns: Employees may view tracking as intrusive, which can bring about trust issues that can become uncomfortable. Organizations must clearly communicate the purpose and scope of tracking to mitigate any concerns. 
  • Over-reliance on technology: Automated tools can generate false positives, which means unnecessary disruptions or an overburdened security team. 
  • Complexity in implementation: Integrating tracking tools with existing systems and workflows can be challenging, particularly for organizations with limited IT resources. 

What are some use cases for remote employee tracking and data leak prevention 

Remote employee tracking and data leak prevention address a broad range of security challenges, particularly in dynamic and distributed workforces. By tailoring these strategies to specific scenarios, organizations can improve both their security posture and the productivity of their teams at the same time.  

Key use cases: 

  1. Preventing data exfiltration: Detecting unauthorized file transfers to personal cloud storage or external devices. 
  1. Securing remote endpoints: Monitoring activity on personal or company-issued devices to identify risks like malware or phishing attacks. 
  1. Mitigating insider threats: Identifying unusual behavior, such as attempts to access restricted files, oversharing of data, or large-scale data downloads. 
  1. Ensuring compliance: Providing detailed logs of data access and usage for audits and investigations. 
  1. Protecting intellectual property: Protecting sensitive designs, prototypes, or trade secrets from unauthorized sharing. 

What remote employee tracking and data leak prevention should look like 

As the remote work trend continues, the integration of AI and machine learning is transforming how tracking and data leak prevention tools work. These technologies provide more sophisticated anomaly detection and predictive insights, reducing reliance on manual oversight. 

The best solutions to achieve the balance between security and productivity should have a semantic understanding of all your data and provide a category-oriented view into all sensitive cloud data – from financial to intellectual property to business confidential to PII/PCI/PHI. Classification is key here, and should be accomplished without rules, regex patterns or end user-involvement. 

The solution should also dynamically adapt to ensure that new types of sensitive data are quickly identified and protected. Risk should be autonomously identified from inappropriate permissioning, risky sharing, unauthorized access, wrong location etc. Most importantly, it should autonomously remediate these issues to prevent data loss. 

Whether data resides in the cloud, on-premises, in structured databases, or unstructured repositories, it should be able to secure access and monitoring of all data in all locations.  

Balancing security with employee trust seemed like a dream not too long ago, but modern employee tracking and data leak prevention solutions have made it a reality.  

The latest from Concentric AI

Concentric

• February 4, 2025

A guide to CMMC compliance
Given the increasing frequency of cyber threats and the need for stronger data p...
Read More
Concentric

• January 27, 2025

A guide to data governance frameworks
Data is like the currency that drives business. It also drives innovation, infor...
Read More
Concentric

• January 27, 2025

Exploring Generative AI Applications in Cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved remarkable advancements over the last ...
Read More