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As more and more of today's workplaces become digital, team members now share digital papers or files that they can all work on together from anywhere, at any time. Keeping these files and papers up-to-date and ensuring everyone works from the same version has always been a problem.
With the number of people working from home and using mobile devices for business reasons on the rise, it is more essential than ever to utilize solutions that make it easy to share files and keep versions in sync. File sharing options refer to all the different kinds of software that can store and send files across your company's network or the internet.
This eliminates the need to store real files and allows internal and external parties to work together. Most file-sharing options also synchronize the files, catching updates and changes in real-time to make sure that the data that is being shared stays the same.
People often use tools like Dropbox and Google Drive to share and sync files, but it's important to know the risks of using software made for consumers for business needs. If you don't use corporate file sharing and syncing software, your data could be lost or accessed by people who shouldn't be able to.
This piece examines three major differences between software solutions for businesses and individuals. These differences show why safe corporate file sharing and syncing is important to protect private data and allow remote and mixed workers to work together.
Legal and regulatory compliance
Companies that deal with private data could break the law if they use options made for consumers. Consumer options may be good for personal use, but they usually don't have the security limits needed to meet regulations in many businesses or places. Some standard rules and conditions for data security compliance are:
●GLBA stands for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Compliance with the GLBA guards the privacy of information that can be used to identify a person (PII). Management of encryption keys and encryption are both best practices that are recommended.
●PCI DSS requires data encryption, robust access rules, and keeping systems and networks safe to cut down on scams and protect private user data.
●The Act for Portability and Accountability in Health Insurance (HIPAA). The HIPAA Security Rule's main goal is to protect electronic health information (ePHI). File-sharing options that are HIPAA-compliant use the right encryption methods to keep audit logs and allow safe access limits.
●GDPR rules protect personal information by requiring the right technology and organizational means, such as encryption, audit logs, and different jobs for different users.
Sharing and moving files without security puts your company at risk of getting in trouble for not following the rules. For example, in January 2021, Excellus Health Plan, a New York health insurer, agreed to pay $5.1 million for resolving compliance violations, such as sharing files without security. Because of a data hack that affected more than 9.3 million people, these rules were broken.
But that's by no means the only case. For example, Ascension Data & Analytics, a company based in Texas, agreed to a payment in December 2021 to settle claims that it broke the GLBA's Safeguards Rule when one of its suppliers kept financial information about customers on an insecure cloud storage platform.
Enterprise organizations may be held accountable for what their third-party vendors do. This happened in the case above when Ascension didn't ensure their partner kept their customers' personal information safe.
Improved Security and Visibility
When you use consumer-oriented technology for business, you often lose control over who can see private data and who can't see who is accessing it. This is because each piece of software doesn't have the security settings needed to set rights for folders and access.
This makes it more difficult to determine who created, changed, or deleted a file and what they did. Enterprise systems for syncing and sharing files let you handle multiple levels of access with better security controls, such as:
●RBAC stands for "role-based access control". RBAC makes it possible to create permission-based user roles based on a user's job, project task, or other relevant factors. These user roles determine how much access each user has.
●POLP stands for "principle of least privilege". POLP limits users' access to only the tools they need to do their job and stops unwanted people from getting private information.
●MFA stands for "multifactor authentication". MFA uses two or more identities, like passwords and security keys, to confirm a user's identity.
●Audit logs. Use audit logs to discover how files are shared and track users' actions. This makes it easy to spot strange behavior or possible security holes that could cause data loss.
●FIM stands for File Integrity Monitoring. IT teams can use FIM to monitor files for changes that don't make sense and could be signs of illegal behavior, noncompliance, or additional risks to security.
●File-level encryption. Only users who know the right password or encryption key can read the data in the file by encrypting data at the file level.
Without seeing how files are shared and synchronized, your IT staff can't ensure your company follows its rules and any external regulations.
Secure File Sharing and Access
Enterprise file sharing and syncing solutions update files in real-time, making it easier for people inside and outside your organization to share files and work together. This is especially important because the number of remote and mixed jobs is growing, and more people are using their cell phones for business.
Experts think that by the end of 2022, 25% of all skilled jobs in North America will be done from home. This trend will only get stronger as the number of high-paying jobs that can be done from home has gone from about 9% in 2020 to 15% in the third quarter of 2021.
So, there is a need for file-sharing options that make it easy for these types of teams to work together, keep files in sync, and share files safely. The number of times we use smart gadgets has also gone up. 80% of IT leaders think people must use mobile devices to do their work well.
But smartphones and computers pose a security risk when used as business platforms. When employee or contractor devices are utilized for accessing company files over outside networks, the device is at risk of getting lost or stolen. Bad actors can capture contact between insecure devices and networks.
For example, a Wi-Fi link that isn't safe can let malware and unwanted people into your files. Enterprise-level options for syncing and sharing files protect private data and ensure teams can work together on the same files. Some things that these methods have in common are:
●Remote wipe lets you delete data from an endpoint device that has been hacked.
●Encryption and password safety make sharing files more secure.
●Integration with office chat apps like Microsoft Teams makes it easier for coworkers to share files.
●Audits and backups can be scheduled automatically to protect important files.