EMAIL DATA LOSS PREVENTION
Stop email exfiltration and misdirected emails with behavioural email DLP that detects risky communications.
Behaviour-Based Protection
Human error, risky sharing, and insider threats make email a leading source of data loss. As AI assistants and autonomous agents amplify these risks, modern email data loss prevention must understand behaviour, recipient relationships, and context to stop misdirected emails, misattached files, and data exfiltration without disrupting productivity.
Warn users when emails, attachments, or recipients look risky so they can correct errors and prevent data loss.
Identify unusual behaviour, suspicious recipients, and insider-driven exfiltration that static policies overlook.
Roll out in as little as 48 hours, without complex setup or ongoing policy maintenance required.
Instant Preventive Action
Proofpoint Adaptive Email DLP draws on more than 12 months of email data to learn each user's normal email behaviour. Every outbound email is scored in real time based on recipients, relationships, attachments, sending patterns, and other contextual signals. When Adaptive Email DLP detects risky activity, it can issue in-the-moment warnings, block messages, or alert security teams to investigate.
Features
Detect subtle changes in communication patterns and messages sent outside normal business relationships.
Score outbound emails in real time based on recipients, relationships, attachments, domains, and message context.
Warn users when messages appear risky so they can correct mistakes before sensitive data is lost.
Block high-risk messages or alert security teams with the context needed for fast investigation.
Deploy through Microsoft 365 APIs and start detecting anomalies in as little as 48 hours, with no rules to write or maintain.
Continuously analyse activity across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Okta using API-based integrations for full visibility.
Behavioural Detection and Investigations
Stop the most common forms of email data loss, including misdirected emails, wrong-file attachments, insider exfiltration, and accidental exposure to external parties. In-the-moment warnings automatically flag users when risky behaviour is detected and help them make informed decisions, reinforcing policies and preventing data loss.
Features
Detect unusual recipients, groups, and domains before messages containing sensitive information are sent.
Flag attachments that do not match the user's normal sharing patterns or intended recipients.
Detect suspicious attempts to send sensitive data to personal accounts or unauthorised recipients.
Protect Microsoft 365 email workflows with controls that adapt as communication patterns change over time.
Give security teams the behavioural context behind alerts so they can investigate and respond faster.
Why Proofpoint
| Use Case | Rule-Based Email DLP | Proofpoint Adaptive Email DLP |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioural analysis | Relies on predefined rules and known content patterns | Learns normal communication patterns to identify risky email behaviour |
| Misdirected emails | Does not support creation of rules to identify recipient mistakes | Detects unusual recipients before messages are sent |
| Wrong attachments | Cannot determine whether the right file is being shared | Flags attachments that do not match normal sharing behaviour |
| Insider exfiltration | Detects only predefined content that matches policies | Detects suspicious sharing to personal or unauthorised accounts |
| User guidance | Typically acts after policies are triggered | Warns users in the moment so they can correct mistakes |
| Adaptive protection | Requires ongoing policy updates and maintenance | Continuously learns as communication patterns evolve |
| Investigation context | Limited context beyond policy violations | Provides behavioural context behind alerts for faster investigations |
Adaptive Email DLP works alongside Enterprise DLP, Insider Threat Management, and DSPM to protect data across email, cloud, endpoints, and the web.
Customer Stories
"Adaptive Email DLP effectively prevents misdirected emails, helps us remain compliant and consistently educates users."
Adam Jeffries
CIO, JTC Group
"Adaptive Email DLP does more than just detect and prevent accidental and intentional data loss. We view it as a user awareness tool as well."
DLP Manager
Large African Banking Group
"Looking at Adaptive Email DLP, it just works ... No false positives. Just out of the box. Brilliant."
Patric Versteeg
CISO, Global Agricultural Company
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Email data loss prevention (DLP) helps organisations prevent sensitive data from being exposed through email. Modern email security solutions can detect risky recipients, suspicious attachments, and unusual file sharing before data is exposed. AI-powered email DLP improves data protection by analysing communication patterns and stopping risky emails before sensitive information leaves the organisation.
Many email data loss incidents look like normal business activity. Employees may choose the wrong recipient, attach the wrong file, or send sensitive data to someone they did not intend to contact. Because these messages often appear legitimate, rule-based tools can miss suspicious email activity and other risky behaviour.
Behavioural AI-powered email DLP helps prevent sensitive data from leaving the organisation by analysing recipients, attachments, message context, and sending behaviour in real time. When behavioural AI-powered email DLP detects suspicious email activity, it warns users before they make mistakes and can block high-risk messages before data is exposed.
Organisations can reduce misdirected emails in Microsoft 365 by detecting unusual recipients, risky attachments, and abnormal sending behaviour before messages are delivered. Behavioural AI-powered email DLP can analyse the type of email being sent, who it is being sent to, and whether the activity matches normal communication patterns. Real-time warnings help users correct mistakes before sensitive data reaches the wrong recipient.
Yes. Adaptive Email DLP can help prevent insider-driven data breaches by detecting risky file sharing, unusual recipient activity, and attempts to send sensitive data outside the organisation. This may include intellectual property, financial records, customer data, and other sensitive information. Behavioural analysis also helps support regulatory compliance and broader data protection efforts.
Organisations should look for email DLP solutions that go beyond content scanning and static rules. Effective behavioural AI-based email DLP should provide behaviour-based analysis, real-time user warnings, fast Microsoft 365 deployment, and clear investigation context for security teams. Behavioural AI-powered email data security can improve data protection while reducing the risk of false positives, manual policy management, and business disruption.
