What is a possible data exfiltration channel?

Cloud-based personal email, file sharing, and collaboration tools represent a significant potential channel for data exfiltration. These platforms can easily facilitate the unauthorized transfer of sensitive information outside an organization’s control. Individuals may leverage these tools to send confidential data to personal accounts or share it with unauthorized recipients, bypassing traditional security measures implemented by the organization. This is particularly concerning because these services often operate outside of the organization's security perimeter, making it difficult for security teams to monitor and manage data flow effectively.

In contrast, while encrypted VPN connections provide secure channels for data transmission, they are designed to protect data in transit rather than facilitate its unauthorized transfer. Physical device theft, while a risk, typically requires direct access to steal data, making it less of a casual exfiltration method. Local network drives are also more contained within the organizational environment, limiting their potential for exfiltration compared to cloud-based solutions that exist outside of it.