Mar 05, 2014

Sharing business files over public solutions or consumer-grade services has become a significant security risk for sensitive data. While such solutions are popular among employees, actively using  them within the workplace could open vulnerabilities in the system and lead to data breaches. In order to mitigate this threat, organizations will need to ensure that they integrate an online file sharing service that will provide security and ensure that users have flexibility.

File transfer solutions made for the general public pose a threat to data safety, as many of the offerings do not have the protective measures enterprises require. In order to meet user and IT needs, decision makers are increasingly choosing hybrid services. According to MSPmentor, one-third of the population works remotely, while 27 million non-cloud file servers remain active, which reinforces the need for hybrid systems. This approach will allow workers to cloud-enable any server, maximizing return on investment and ensuring that assets do not need to be migrated to a new platform. Employees will be able to keep the processes they’re familiar with and diminish additional investment requirements.

“For those who have made cloud-based file sharing part of their businesses, there’s likely no turning back,” according to the source. “At this point, the benefits far outweigh the risks. But as we’re starting to see, the business world is very receptive to the idea of a cloud-enabled local server.”

Enabling file security
Public cloud has long been considered a substantial threat to data protection, even as more providers claim to offer viable solutions. According to research released in January by the Ponemon Institute, half of businesses believe that consumer-grade services like Dropbox are not suitable for the work environment. This distrust stems from the inability to identify if information was compromised, lost or stolen during a data breach. In addition, 66 percent of respondents named file sharing solutions as a significant risk despite the fact that 69 percent of participants don’t know if unapproved tools are being used to view company information.

“These tools provide a great user experience, but there are serious question marks about their enterprise-class security credentials, illustrated by the fact that many financial and healthcare organizations block their use,” industry expert Dave Butcher told Infosecurity Magazine. “This survey highlighted those concerns and points to the need for a solution that can address the usability, security and policy management requirements of users and IT departments.”