Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is meant to stop sensitive information leaking out of your organisation. Simple, right? It used to feel that way. It doesn’t anymore.
Teams share externally all day, every day: contracts, invoices, HR files, client documents, deal packs, spreadsheets full of “temporary” data that somehow becomes permanent. And the biggest risk channel still isn’t some exotic hacker trick - it’s the most normal thing in the world:
an email attachment being sent, forwarded, downloaded, and then living in places you can’t see or control.
Traditional DLP does a decent job before something leaves (scan, warn, quarantine, block). The harder part - the part many organisations struggle with - is what happens after you hit Send. That’s where ShelterZoom’s Document GPS fits: it’s about keeping control of the document itself, not just inspecting the channel it travelled through.
Email is where business happens. It’s fast, familiar, and everyone uses it. But attachments still create predictable DLP failures:
You send a file to the right person, then it gets forwarded (sometimes innocently), and suddenly your access rules are… well, none.
Once a file is downloaded, duplication is easy. Copies land on desktops, shared drives, personal cloud folders, and you lose track in hours.
When a mailbox is compromised, attackers don’t just send phishing. They search history. Old threads with attachments can be a goldmine.
Even if an email recall works (often it doesn’t), the attachment may already be opened, saved, or screenshotted.
This is why a modern DLP strategy can’t stop at “scan and block”. It has to address the lifecycle of a document after it’s shared.
ShelterZoom Document GPS is built to modernise the email attachment experience. Instead of sending a raw file that instantly becomes someone else’s copy, Document GPS is designed so the document stays connected to permissions, tracking, and control.
In DLP terms, that’s a major shift:
And that matters because real-world data loss isn’t always malicious. It’s usually accidental, rushed, or simply “this is how we’ve always done it”.
A strong DLP programme needs visibility. Not vibes. Visibility.
ShelterZoom’s enterprise DLP capabilities are aimed at flagging when sensitive information is shared, so you can respond early rather than discovering the issue later when it’s already spread.
Even better: identification isn’t useful if it’s slow or buried. DLP only matters when it leads to action.
Document GPS is designed around controlled sharing. That typically means you can set rules like:
This is a very practical DLP win, because it tackles the “uncontrolled copy” problem that normal attachments create.
DLP isn’t only about stopping. It’s also about knowing what happened.
Document GPS focuses on tracking access and activity so you can answer questions like:
That’s what gives security and compliance teams confidence, because you’re not guessing during an incident.
This is where most classic attachment workflows fall down: they alert you, but they don’t give you a lever to pull.
Document GPS is built around the idea that you should be able to change permissions or revoke access after the document has been shared. So if a file goes to the wrong recipient (it happens), you’re not stuck with “well… hope they delete it”.
Containment becomes an action, not a polite request.
If you can revoke access after sending, you turn one of the most common breach scenarios (mis-send) into something manageable. This is the kind of control that makes DLP feel real, not theoretical.
Let’s be honest: if you block downloads, people screenshot. It’s the oldest workaround in the book.
Document-level controls that discourage screenshots (and watermarking that makes leaks traceable) add a deterrence layer that ordinary DLP policies often can’t provide in a user-friendly way.
A lot of organisations think of DLP as “outbound only”, but inbound is messy too. Clients and partners often send sensitive files in the least secure way possible.
A secure upload method gives you a cleaner, safer intake path for confidential documents (and reduces the “just email it over” habit).
Malicious attachments can create data loss through compromise, not just leakage. Scanning uploaded files and stopping infected documents from being opened helps reduce that risk without requiring users to be security experts.
Signing is often the moment a document becomes even more sensitive. If the signed copy gets downloaded and forwarded, you’ve got a problem.
Keeping signing within a controlled environment means the signed result can stay governed with the same rules as the original doc.
Document GPS tends to shine in industries where email attachments are constant and consequences are high:
Sensitive client documents, privilege, counterparties, and lots of external sharing. One wrong forward can be a disaster.
Regulated data, audit requirements, and a big need for tracking plus fast containment when errors happen.
Patient information, strict confidentiality, and an obvious need to control and monitor access beyond the initial send.
Student records, transcripts, research, and regular external sharing with organisations that don’t all sit in the same IT ecosystem.
Fast-moving deals, lots of third parties, and constant exchange of contracts and identity documents (often over email, still).
DLP fails when it fights the business. People will always choose the fastest path unless the secure path is also easy.
Here’s a rollout approach that usually works:
Pick 2–3 workflows where data loss hurts most:
Defaults matter more than policies people don’t read. For external sends, start with:
Then widen access intentionally, not casually.
Before you get strict, learn where sensitive sharing actually happens. The behaviour data will surprise you, it always does.
Write down what the team does when:
The key is speed. “We’ll investigate” is not a containment plan.
You don’t need 30 dashboards. Track a few clear signals:
Sometimes it complements them, sometimes it reduces the need to rely purely on blocking. If the main risk is email attachments and external sharing, document-level control can be the missing piece.
That’s the whole point of the model: the document remains governed, so you can respond after sharing rather than being stuck with “damage is done”.
Trying to block everything immediately. People get frustrated, then they work around it. The better approach is controlled sharing + visibility + fast response.
It can reduce the impact because sensitive files don’t need to live as raw attachments sitting in inbox history forever, and access can be revoked quickly if something looks wrong.
If your DLP strategy stops at “scan and block at send time”, you’re still exposed to the messy reality of business: forwards, downloads, re-shares, and compromised mailboxes.
ShelterZoom Document GPS is designed for that reality. It treats the document as the asset you control - with permissions, tracking, and the ability to revoke access when it matters most. It’s basically DLP that keeps working after the point where traditional attachments stop being manageable.
Contact our experts today to discuss ShelterZoom solutions