According to analyst firm, Enterprise Strategy Group, the enterprise cloud based file sharing revolution is being driven not by IT, but by end users – individuals who need to access and share data across laptops, smart phones and tablets whenever the need may arise. And, it’s these individuals who often subscribe to consumer-based file sharing solutions on their own and then bring those tools into the enterprise to support business use – creating a data security nightmare for IT.
This situation has IT playing catch up, yet many organizations are hesitant to embrace cloud services. Why? ESG found that 43 percent of organizations are worried about data security and privacy concerns and 32 percent about giving up too much control. Ironically, without a proper file sharing solution in place, users are calling the shots, creating the same security risks and a lack of control that’s been holding them back from the cloud in the first place.
In a new white paper, Evaluating Cloud File Sharing and Collaboration Solutions, ESG advised organizations to find a single, secure file sharing and collaboration solution that they can confidently endorse and provides a checklist of what to ask during the due diligence process, including:
•Can we sync data across end point devices when offline?
• Can users easily search for files across synched directory trees?
• Can we support files of any size?
• Can we set group policies from a central dashboard?
• Is there Active Directory integration?
• Is it easy to de-provision accounts?
• Is data encrypted in transit and at rest?
• Are there remote wiping capabilities?
• Is the data center SAS 70 Type II certified?
• Is data replicated remotely in the event of site failure?
To help you make a smart investment that’s right for your company, download the complete recommended checklist today.
P.S. Accellion answers “yes” to all of the questions above.
If you’re in the government sector, new cloud services and products are likely in the plans for 2013. Cloud momentum continues to build according to InformationWeek Government’s third annual Federal Cloud Computing survey, which showed that half of its agency respondents are currently moving ahead with cloud adoption or are in the early stages of doing so – up from 40 percent last year.
So, what’s spurring this growth? According to the survey, the move to the cloud is being driven by three primary business objectives:
- Lowering the cost of ongoing IT operations (54%)
- Reducing capital investments in servers and data center equipment (51%)
- Supporting mobile productivity and collaboration within the agency and with other agencies (37%)
Number three on this list came as no surprise to us, as we talk every day with organizations – within the government and enterprise sectors – who are looking for more efficient, secure, and cost effective ways to access and share information on mobile devices with people inside and outside of the organization. That need leads them to Accellion.
For Accellion customer Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD), the ability to collaborate quickly and securely makes all the difference for the youth they serve. Operating dozens of treatment facilities, correctional institutions and halfway houses throughout the state, TJJD needed a way for its 2,500 employees to share confidential data efficiently and reliably between parents, medical staff and legal counsel.
Before switching to Accellion, staff members often turned to mailing hard copies of documents, burning CDs, or encrypting individual emails in order to work around a cumbersome file transfer and encryption mechanism. TJJD clearly needed a better option, fast.
The same could be said for other government organizations at the federal, state and local level that select Accellion. These customers include government agencies such as NASA, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Institute of Standards of Technology that have a need for the strictest security and compliance requirements for the sharing and collaboration of digital information.
If mobile productivity and collaboration are part of your cloud plans for 2013, we can help.
No one would be shocked to learn that organizations aren’t big fans of employees playing online poker or roulette on the job. Which is why, when 1,200 IT decisions makers at private companies were asked to name the top three worst apps that employees could download, gambling was at the top of the list, with 58 percent of responses.
Right behind concerns about bringing a bit of Vegas into the office are serious worries about certain online file sharing applications. But not just any apps – Dropbox and Box in particular. Fifty-one percent of survey respondents named these unapproved cloud file sharing apps as some of the worst offenders in the enterprise, earning the number two spot on the list. And, of the 45 percent of respondents who blacklisted apps, 57 percent named Dropbox and 42percent named Box as the apps being banned.
What happens is that users genuinely need a way to share large files and when there’s not an IT-approved solution in place they find one on their own. Consumer-focused online file transfer solutions, such as Dropbox, are then used behind the scenes to send proprietary documents, creating security risks and headaches for IT. It’s this need for a Dropbox alternative – a secure, proven, enterprise-class solution – that drives organizations to Accellion.
Accellion customer, MiTek, a global construction company, had been there, done that, leading the company to ban Dropbox, deploy Accellion, and not look back. Here’s what Justin Daniels, Web Services/Software Engineering and IT Support Manager with MiTek had to say:
“With public cloud providers, there are so many unknowns when it comes to security: Where exactly are your files? How do you get them back if you change providers? How do you know where your employees are sending files? We weren’t willing to give up the rights to data that was sensitive, proprietary, and was rightfully ours. With Accellion, we know exactly where our files are, can track and monitor both senders and recipients, and enforce file sharing policies at a user- and corporate-wide level.”
When customers say “yes” to Accellion, it makes saying “no” to Dropbox and Box a no-brainer.
In our last post, “New Research to Drive Your Mobile Policies”, we talked about how mobile devices are redefining the workplace, pushing the need for ubiquitous access to enterprise content. But, the big question is how to give users what they want – user-friendly, around-the-clock data availability – while maintaining strong IT security and control. It can be a big undertaking if you don’t know what to look for from a file sharing solution.
Here are 10 must-haves to help meet both users’ and IT’s needs:
Multiple platform support: Even if you’re a Blackberry shop today, you don’t know what the future holds, so you need to be able to support iOS, Android and Blackberry devices should the need arise.
Seamless access to existing ECM stores:Allow users to gain anytime, anywhere access to data – whether stored in SharePoint or another ECM system – and share files with internal or external audiences, without a VPN.
Enhanced encryption: To lower data breach risks, your solution of choice should encrypt data both in transit and at rest, across all devices – whether in the cloud or on-premise.
Centralized management: Easily configure user permissions and manage user policies and profiles, including role-based access controls – ideally from a single, web-based interface.
Proactive file protection:Extend your organization’s established content/file monitoring policies to all file sharing activities by integrating with commercially available DLP and anti-virus solutions.
Complete device control: Ask about remote monitoring, logging, and wiping capabilities, to provide much-needed visibility and control should a device be lost or stolen.
Required enterprise integrations: Ensure that the solution you’re evaluating will support your existing infrastructure, applications, and security processes, such as LDAP, Active Directory, single sign-on, authentication, FTP, and SMTP.
File sharing visibility: With evolving regulatory requirements, you need granular reporting capabilities, real-time file tracking, and automated audit trails to maintain compliance standings.
Deployment choice:Whether a public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid environment, evaluate which deployment provides maximum data security and availability and will have your users up and running quickly.
Say “no” to consumer-class services: Prohibit users from seeking out their own consumer-based solutions, such as Dropbox, to prevent being left in the dark about where files have been sent and to whom.
Extend security to every file and every device within your organization and embrace the BYOD trend. Your users will thank you.
With so many organizations wondering how to support the boom of mobile workers, we recently hosted a sponsored webinar, “Empowering the BYOD Workforce”, to provide insight into the state of mobile affairs, the evolving workplace, and what types of users are driving the BYOD charge. In case you missed it, Chris Silva with The Altimeter Group, LLC provided some great research to help guide the development and prioritization of BYOD strategies. Here are some highlights:
Smartphones are the “it” device: The pendulum is shifting from laptops to smartphones as the mobile screen of choice. Data from Nielsen shows that more than half (55%) of U.S. mobile subscribers have a smartphone – up from 41 percent last year. And that number will no doubt continue to rise with the anticipated arrival of new Google Nexus devices.
One device is not enough: The average worker now carries 3.5 “mobile” devices (smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc.), up from 2.7 last year, according to the iPass Q1 2012 Global Mobile Workforce Report.
Mobile computing is now the norm:Insight Research reveals that 89 of the top 100 companies offer telecommuting, with 67 percent of all workers relying on mobile and wireless computing to get work done.
Work hours are blurred: Research from Good Technology found that individuals are productive well beyond traditional office hours, with more than 80 percent of people continue to work when leaving the office, adding up to an extra 30 hours per month. Plus, 49 percent do work email after 10:00pm and 69 percent will not sleep before checking email.
Mobilizing sales is a must:The Altimeter Group, LLC found that field/sales employees are the most important user group to mobilize, as these road warriors live on mobile devices and need a simple and secure way to manage, view, store, and share information.
So, the big question is: how do you make enterprise file sharing accessible on phones and tablets to support the mobility trends outlined above, while maintaining tight control and security? Check out our next blog entry to learn how to navigate the security challenges of BYOD while enabling your growing mobile workforce.
The high-tech world has no shortage of acronyms. DLP, NAC, TCP, WAN, Wifi– the list goes on and on, making it tough to keep track of the latest buzzwords. Perhaps one of the most widely used acronyms currently is BYOD- the much talked about trend of employees bringing their own devices into the enterprise and the security challenges created as a result.
Well, get ready, because there’s a new acronym that’s entered the fold: BYOC. Bring Your Own Collaboration.
While research conducted this summer by Varonis Systems found that 80 percent of companies do not allow their employees to use collaboration services due to data leakage concerns. Guess what? Your employees are using these solutions anyway.
A survey by Computacenter of IT decision makers found that 84 percent of employees secretly access consumer cloud collaboration solutions in the workplace because their own organizations don’t provide effective alternatives. Translation: if you don’t provide a corporate file sharing and collaboration option, employees will make a point to find one on their own, creating a BYOC ripple effect before you know it.
This BYOC movement is yet another reason for IT administrators to lose sleep. Point in case, Dan Raywood with SC Magazine recently attended a CISO roundtable and the question, “what keeps you awake at night” was answered by a panelist with a single word: “Dropbox.” So, there you have it.
Employees clearly need a way to collaborate and share information. So, you can either provide them with a solution that’s secure and built for enterprise use, or they’ll bring one of their own, which probably will not be secure or appropriate for enterprise user. What’s it going to be?
As expected, Apple announced the much-anticipated iPhone 5 at this week’s media event to great fanfare and we expect once available it will immediately become part of the BYOD mix.
Just a few weeks ago, Marissa Mayer, in one of her first acts as CEO of Yahoo, decided everyone at Yahoo would be issued an iPhone or Android device. Her preference is the iPhone, in spite of being a former Google employee and she expects employees to become familiar with the platform so that they can create “products that shine” on it.
It’s an interesting response by Yahoo, who like so many organizations, has ended up with a diverse population of Android, BlackBerry and Apple iOS devices in the enterprise.
While Accellion mobile file sharing supports virtually any mobile device, we applaud Mayer’s decision to take a stance on Yahoo’s mobile state of affairs, driving toward consistent mobile access and security across the organization. She’s tackling the first important step by defining which devices can be used. The next step will be defining how users can access and share content securely on these devices, and this is where Accellion becomes important. IT needs management and control over mobile file sharing to protect valuable and confidential enterprise information. Stay tuned as the next generation of iPhone users unfold at Yahoo! (and countless other enterprises) around the globe.
Your brand reaches far beyond your logo, tagline and website – encompassing all interactions with current and potential customers, and often boiling down to how professional (and pleasant) it is to do business with you. How you communicate with investors, partners, and prospects says a lot about your company and helps you create a rapport and level of trust with those critical to your company’s success. The last thing you want is an employee sharing a file from their mobile device and inadvertently also sharing a virus with a valued customer, contaminating external recipients along with all you’ve done to build your company’s brand.
Continuing our discussion about the risks of the growing Bring Your Own Device trend, employees are sharing files from any number of mobile devices and antivirus protection needs to follow suit. According to Juniper Networks’ 2011 Mobile Threats Report, there was a 155 percent increase in malware on mobile platforms in 2011 as compared to the previous year.
But, just because mobile malware is on the rise, doesn’t mean your risks have to increase at the same pace. If your employees are sharing files, you need the ability to run antivirus – on any device, at any time – before the document goes out. It seems like a no-brainer, but vendors such as Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync would disagree, with Gartner’s new “Mobile File Synchronization Evaluation Criteria” report (May 2012) showing all three in the “No” category when it comes to offering antivirus on mobile files.
More mobile devices plus more malware has to equal a file sharing device that comes with antivirus protection. Does Accellion offer antivirus? The answer is a resounding “yes” as no enterprise file sharing solution is secure without it.
When it comes to allowing employees to use their own personal devices at work, everyone is doing it, or so it seems. A recent Cisco-sponsored survey of 600 IT and business leaders found that 95 percent of respondents allow employee-owned devices on the corporate network, citing increased productivity and employee job satisfaction as the primary drivers.
While employees may be grinning a bit more as a result of being able to use their iPhones for both work and play, IT administrators aren’t exactly smiling. The survey went on to disclose that 69 percent of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) users were accessing unapproved applications on these devices, a reality that is causing organizations to carefully weigh BYOD risks versus rewards.
One company that’s taking new BYOD precautions is IBM, banning the use of Dropbox, iCloud, and Siri on employees’ iPhones. IBM’s CIO, Jeanette Horan, told MIT Technology Review that the trend toward employee-owned devices has created new challenges for her IT department because “employees’ devices are full of software that IBM doesn’t control.” It’s that lack of “control” that’s causing many organizations to question the security of public cloud services – and rightly so.
When IBM, with an IT powerhouse of 5,000 staff members, takes a stand against select cloud services, people take notice. We’ll look for other organizations to follow suit, taking a close look at what cloud providers are actually doing with their confidential data and establishing BYOD policies that maintain close control of what services are actually being used by employees and when.
So, kudos to you, Jeanette Horan, for leading the way with new BYOD security practices. You are the Accellion CIO hero of the week.
In 2010, Oracle surveyed more than 3,000 people from around the globe to discover how people communicate. The overwhelming response was mobile, mobile, mobile. In 2011, Oracle conducted a second survey calling it The Future of Mobile Communications-Take Two. This upgraded report delivered interesting results about mobile phone usage and the perceptions of mobile devices.
I don’t think we have to discuss the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend or the fact that employees are using mobile devices to share files & access business applications. The lightning fast proliferation of data hungry users is the thing that organizations and IT managers are trying to manage. The respondents of Oracle’s 2011Future of Mobile Communications-Take Two report confirm that these trends are permanent. That’s bad news for our telephone booth frequenting super hero.
How data hungry were the users from the survey? Over the past year alone, mobile data usage increased 47%. Even more remarkable is the fact that 55% of those surveyed reported having downloaded a mobile app, up significantly from 42% in 2010. The most dangerous threats posed by downloaded mobile apps are well-documented in Veracode’s Mobile app top 10 list. Even more notable was the fact that 25% of mobile web users are mobile only.
When respondents were asked if they think that information stored or transmitted with a mobile device is secure, the results were disproportionate. Thirty-two percent of those asked thought their information was secure. Sixty-eight percent said that they didn’t think the information stored or transmitted with a mobile device was secure.
People can be their own worst enemy when it comes to security. Ten percent of all iPhone users have 0000 or 1234 as a device password. The fact that there are mobile data security programs available and not being used is indefensible.
For all these reasons, mobile devices are the most popular target for data theft. In several upcoming blog posts we will discuss some Dos and Don’ts of mobile device security and take a closer look at mobile security compliance.
Nagar, M. (Designer). (2011). Introduction and evolution. [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.bluegenietech.com/blog/tag/history-of-mobiles/
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