Data Exfiltration
The unauthorised movement of personal or sensitive data out of a controlled environment to an attacker-controlled destination.
Full Definition
Data exfiltration is the end-state of most high-impact data breaches: an attacker who has achieved access to systems containing personal data moves copies of that data to infrastructure they control. Common exfiltration channels include outbound HTTPS to attacker-controlled servers, DNS tunnelling, cloud-storage uploads to free-tier accounts, email forwarding to external addresses, and USB or network share copies for insider-threat scenarios.
Detection controls include DLP (inspecting outbound content for sensitive patterns), network anomaly detection (unexpected volumes of outbound traffic), egress firewall rules (blocking traffic to known malicious infrastructure), User Behavior Analytics (unusual data-access patterns before exfiltration) and endpoint EDR. Under GDPR Articles 33–34, DPDP Rule 7 and PDPA, confirmed exfiltration of personal data is a notifiable breach — the DPDP regime has no risk threshold, so every exfiltration triggers Board intimation and Data Principal notification.
Related terms
Data Breach
A security incident in which personal data is accessed, disclosed, altered, destroyed or lost without authorisation.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Technologies and policies that detect and block the unauthorised movement of sensitive personal data out of controlled environments.
Insider Threat
A security risk originating from an authorised user — employee, contractor, business partner — who misuses their access to harm the organisation or exfiltrate data.
Relevant regulations
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