Security Meets Availability with Document Encryption for Cloud Storage

Date: 7 February 2018

If there is one thing that has come to define the very nature of the porous network boundary, it is the use of cloud storage to provide always-on availability to documents. With convenience abound, the only person shaking their head is the IT security practitioner who winces at the idea of sensitive content being released into an uncontrollable ether.

Budgets vs. IT Security

Readers will be familiar with the scenario in the introduction paragraph; there is almost no organisation left which hasnt embraced some form of cloud adoption. Commonly this has taken the form of Office 365 or Google Mail and their companion document storage solutions such as OneDrive and Google Drive. Convenience has been a major aspect of their adoption, second only to the advantageous price and cost savings available by using a centralised service or no longer needing to host the service themselves.

One has to then wonder, how much of this rush for convenience and cost-saving has been at the detriment of security? I have certainly attended a number of conferences and workshops on the very same topic.

Document Encryption in the Cloud

Encryption has been used to protect locally stored documents is not a new concept. From PGP email encryption to disk encrypted USB drives. Encryption technology has been used in document security for over a decade, if not longer. For more modern networks, the challenge comes when those files are removed from their protected fixed storage mediums and moved to something which doesnt afford the same level of protection, namely the cloud storage solutions mentioned previously.

Commonly, these files become vulnerable. A risk which is accepted by some organisations as unavoidable, after all how can you protect something which has been moved outside of your control? The obvious answer most jump to is DLP (Data Leakage Prevention) solutions to prevent documents being sent to unprotected mediums. However, this is not only unpopular with users but will undoubtedly hamper productivity and lead to shadow IT.

Innovative document security vendor, Shieldox have developed a simple to use solution which can protect documents inside of cloud storage environments, with just a few clicks. Users need not need to understand the complexities of encryption, instead upon declaring the document or folder as sensitive, Shieldox will encrypt and apply protective document permissions.

Document Security Mind Map Shieldox


 Best of all, all documents which are contained within a protective folder, automatically inherit the declared sensitivity of that folder. This means that as your users place documents into their correct folder locations, they will be automatically encrypted and protected appropriate to the sensitivity folder. This will drive up adoption rate among users as there is no additional overhead in their daily tasks to use the Shieldox solution. Happy users equal higher adoption which leads to better document security. Information security managers can sleep well at night.

Security Meets Availability

With Shieldox, document security has finally caught up with the times and makes the adoption of cloud-based storage technology less of a risk. Those solutions types, document classification and encryption, which they told you were too complicated for cloud adoption is no longer a reality.

Implemented by simply installing a Chrome browser plugin, document encryption has never been easier adopt nor use. No servers and no custom applications, Shieldox has been created with simplicity and high adoption rates in mind. Security should be an enabler, not a prohibitor.

Shieldox Document Security Demonstration Request

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