DLP and Workflow - "Better Together"


DLP is a powerful suite of technologies that can help to prevent data loss; Workflow is a framework for creating processes.  When you combine these two technologies, you have a comprehensive solution for data loss discovery, response, and management.  The main takeaway is... when DLP creates an incident, you can AUTOMATICALLY start a Workflow to handle the incident response process and audit the process from end to end.


The following is a sequence of instructions that explain how to configure and test the provided Workflow project to work with a DLP implementation (compatible with DLP version 11.1 and higher).  Watch the following videos listed below for additional use case context.


Video 1 - Basic Connectivity

Video 2 - Configuration Steps

Video 3 - Add Decision Rules

Video 4 - Add a Workflow Component

Step 1:  Download the Workflow .package and DLP configuration files here... Download Files


Step 2:  Verify that you have your Workflow Designer set to use IIS and Sticky Debug URL's is turned on.  This is critical if you want to run this process in your Debugger/Simulator.  If you don't adjust these settings, you'll have to change the URL configurations every time you test your project.



Step 3:  Open the Workflow project and set the project properties to point to your DLP server.



Step 4:  Copy the WorkflowFlexResponse.jar and WorkflowFlexResponse.properties files to your DLP directory; typically "C:\Vontu\Protect\plugins".  Edit the WorkflowFlexResponse.properties file so it points to your Workflow URL.



Step 5:  Switch to the "C:\Vontu\Protect\config" directory and edit the Plugins.properties file.


Step 6:  Restart the DLP Service (listed under Vontu in the Windows service list)

Step 7:  Open the DLP console and verify that "Start Symantec Workflow Process" now shows up as an option when you create a Response Rule.



Step 8:  That's it... now you can create Response Rules that start Workflow processes.  You'll need to associate a Response Rule with a Policy and run a scan that creates incidents to test your Workflow.  Watch the videos at the top of this page for additional context.