Palo Alto Networks added cloud-delivered data loss prevention (DLP) to its security lineup.

The aptly named Enterprise DLP centralizes data protection policies and automatically applies them across networks, cloud services and infrastructure, and users.

And although it has “enterprise” in the name, Enterprise DLP can scale for all sizes of organizations, said Mario Espinoza, VP of data protection at Palo Alto Networks.

This is important because costly data breaches can hit companies large and small. “An element of every breach is data, and not only is data protection critical for both [personally identifiable information] and intellectual property, but also for regulatory compliance,” Espinoza said.

Existing DLP products are expensive, complex, and require large teams to deploy and manage, he said. “Because of that, data protection solutions are available today, but only for a very small set of organizations — the largest organizations in the world that can afford to spend millions and millions of dollars on a very large team to configure the solution,” Espinoza said. “We are bringing data protection to a wider audience.”

Palo Alto Networks’ cloud service protects data in the cloud and on premises, it can be deployed across a large enterprise “in minutes,” and it doesn’t require any additional infrastructure or agents, Espinoza said. “Because of that, the cost of having this solution is three times lower than any other solution in the marketplace,” he added.

Plus, its policy engine, automation, and integration with existing Palo Alto Networks’ control points including firewalls, cloud security, and secure access service edge (SASE) platforms make it easy for security teams to deploy across users and branch offices, Espinoza said.

Enterprise DLP can automatically detect sensitive content via machine learning-based data classification and data patterns that use more than 500 predefined industry defined data identifiers such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and financial records.

In addition to providing visibility into sensitive data, Enterprise DLP can also show an alert when a user is sending private data, for example, or uploading proprietary source code to third-party sites.

The cloud service also automates incident response, such as taking action to quarantine sensitive files that are exposed on cloud storage.

Existing Palo Alto Networks’ customers can enable Enterprise DLP with one click, and the vendor will provide free access for 90 days to both existing and new customers. “We think that it will be very attractive, both for existing Palo Alto network customers, but also for new customers that are considering solutions to protect their data, that are doing a digital transformation and having more remote work, and using the cloud more,” Espinoza said.