Enterprises today are moving faster than ever before. Product development cycles are shorter, supply chains are more connected and nimble, and with more and more data being generated, information is delivered more quickly than ever before. As a result, IT organizations find themselves scrambling like pit crews to keep business units performing with utmost speed and agility.
Fast however can’t mean reckless. While enterprises are speeding up and connecting to more partners and providers outside the organization, they must also strengthen their IT defenses. They must be mindful of the many evolving threats and the heightened risks of data breaches and compliance violations that stem from sharing sensitive information or sharing access to sensitive information.
Ultimately, this is the directive IT organizations are tasked with today: move to the cloud, connect more devices to help the organization become more agile—but guard against security breaches by protecting every file—including those in the organization and those shared externally—and help the organization comply with increasingly strict data privacy and data security regulations. In brief, “go fast, but stay safe.”
Governance Over File Sharing Is Key
The key to delivering on both parts of this directive—agility with security—is governance over external file sharing. This is the practice of not just securing information that is shared beyond enterprise boundaries. It is also knowing where sensitive information sits within the enterprise, who has access to that information, when are they accessing it and what are they doing with it, namely who are they sending it to.
Most large enterprises have heavily invested in securing their networks, including their digital assets. But beyond deploying a DLP solution that prevents an unauthorized download of sensitive information, most organizations give little thought to securing the sensitive information once it leaves the organization. Enterprises need some sort of file sharing governance functionality that:
- Works consistently across all the different content repositories in the enterprise – both on-prem and in the cloud
- Enforces access controls and data security policies while ensuring that authorized users both inside and outside the organization have access to the information they need in a timely manner
- Provides an audit trail that enables organizations in regulated industries such as healthcare or financial services to demonstrate compliance with data security and data privacy regulations
The Accellion Secure File Sharing Platform
Accellion has developed a secure file sharing governance platform, kiteworks, that provides a secure perimeter around the IT infrastructure enterprises already have—including the critical business systems that hold and process content. This integrated governance framework provides a new layer of security and control that enables organizations to better secure their sensitive information as well as demonstrate to regulators that the information is protected and customer privacy is ensured.
By integrating with the critical systems and workflows already deployed in an organization, Accellion kiteworks provides an unparalleled level of visibility and control of all sensitive information that enters, exits and is stored in the organization.
Accellion’s file sharing governance platform consists of four pillars or core competencies that together provide a comprehensive solution that enables organizations to share their most valuable content securely and efficiently while demonstrating compliance with internal policies and government regulations. The four pillars are:
- Security - essential capabilities such as support for private and hybrid clouds, encryption of data in transit and at rest, and role-based access controls, integrating with other key IT services such as Single Sign-On authentication (SSO), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to create a comprehensive, enterprise-wide solution for defining and enforcing security policies for all users on all devices.
- Governance - compliance with strict regulations such as FedRAMP, GDPR, HIPAA and others; includes reporting tools for internal and external audits.
- Ease of use - plugins for Microsoft Outlook and secure clients for iOS and Android, ensuring that data governance never hampers productivity.
- Integration and automation– connectors into popular Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint and One Drive for Business, as well as tools for automating file creation and delivery to accelerate workflows while keeping content safe.
Together, these pillars enable leading organizations to accelerate operations and improve operational efficiencies while keeping data secure and compliant.
We’ll explore each of these pillars in more detail in upcoming posts.
In the meantime, if you would like to see a demo of the Accellion’s secure file sharing platform in action, please contact us.