Jun 10, 2014

With the emergence of sophisticated threats, more organizations are looking for ways to protect their data while also allowing their staff to collaborate efficiently. However, in industries like healthcare and retail where higher regulations are placed on essential information, using file storage is considerably more difficult. Businesses must be able to ensure that their documents are secure and provide a platform that does not limit storage functionality.

Dominant compliance standards
​Two of the biggest compliance standards observed by various sectors are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). HIPAA regulates the healthcare vertical, protecting patient information and providing integral guidelines to ensure that the files are not breached. According to the radio news program Marketplace, medical care providers areincreasingly targeted by data compromises because many organizations host their records online, making them easy targets. Many practitioners even use USB devices to transfer files without coding them first. Encrypted file storage would substantially mitigate these risks and protect the documents from being accessed by unauthorized users.

PCI DSS is mostly used in retail and protects consumers from having their financial information taken. However, if this information is kept in file storage without safeguards or is easy to find, the organization can have a massive breach like the one seen by Target and many other firms. While the regulations may be a challenge to emulate, it will help protect sensitive information from being leaked and minimize losses.

Securing the keys to the kingdom
While many organizations are observing their respective industry rules, they still struggle to maintain security. According to the 2013 Global Encryption Trends Study by the Ponemon Institute, more businesses are deploying encrypted file storage and other processes, but a large majority of respondents considered key management a significant challenge. In fact, 70 percent of companies had not provisioned tools or formed a dedicated team to managing the keys.

“Encryption usage continues to be a clear indicator of a strong security posture, but there appears to be emerging evidence that concerns over key management are becoming a barrier to its more widespread adoption,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute.

In a highly regulated environment like healthcare or retail, it is essential to have tools on hand that will follow industry rules. Memeo C1 is an enterprise-grade file sharing solution that will protect data through encryption to keep information safe at rest or in transit.