While many organizations have spent a lot of time and effort moving toward the very worthwhile goal of implementing content-filtering-based technology such as data leak prevention (DLP), the truth is that a lot of fundamental groundwork needs to be laid before an organization should even think of DLP. The following five steps are some very effective ways to improve data security in a cost-effective manner and are the first steps toward readying an organization for more robust data protection measures such as DLP.