A DLP alert is a system-generated message. A DLP tool monitors activities, such as data storage access and network traffic. The software will raise an alert if an activity lies outside registered acceptable behavior. The alert does not necessarily mean that a data loss event has occurred. It could identify a potential risk or a system weakness that the actions of intruders have exposed without successfully touching the target data. An alert should instigate an investigation into the necessity of adjusting security standards or taking some other preventative measures or it could indicate a security breach in progress.