Archive for November, 2010
How Would You Send Large Files?
Great question asked by Wayne Hemrick at ArticleSnatch. In his answer to “How would you send large files in an ideal world?”,Wayne touches on a few very important considerations when thinking about person-to-person file sharing, including: ease-of-use, large file size, and security.
I agree that the ability to easily send ginormous files is only part of the problem that a business should be looking to solve. It’s no secret that people need to send other people files as part of their jobs. In many cases, these files contain information that is sensitive and confidential. In my opinion, the real issue is that business users lack a way to ensure the security of these information exchanges.
Wayne correctly points out that many of the currently used tools are insecure, inefficient, complicated and some even require the intervention of IT professionals. But the growing risk of privacy loss and data breaches has made the security aspect of sending files a top concern. Organizations need to demonstrate to their customers that they understand this and are taking steps to address it.
Businesses require a simple file sharing solution that:
- Enables employees to easily send files (any size, any type) to other people
- Lowers company risk by securing and protecting internal and customer information
- Provides visibility into what happens after file is sent for auditing and compliance
The ideal solution must provide for guaranteed and trackable file delivery that your business can rely on.
More than any other question, customers and prospects are asking me: What is the Ipswitch Cloud story? What are you going to do in the Cloud?
The Cloud has been the topic of discussion in many Product Management and Research & Development meetings and strategy sessions here at Ipswitch. While we may not have all the details sorted out, I want to provide you with a my initial thoughts…and I’d like to encourage you to provide feedback.
Ipswitch looks at the Cloud as having multiple personae. That is, to say, it represents various “things” to us.
In one sense, it’s a destination. When I use a Cloud-based service, my destination is the Cloud and there are attributes about this destination that are pre-configurable, predictable, and static, as far as connectivity goes. The notion of a set of Cloud Streams offered by Ipswitch is a real possibility. With over 10 million active users, we could offer pre-configured, governed connections to common Cloud-based SaaS providers like Salesforce.com or Office 365.
In another sense, the Cloud represents a way to broker information to some other endpoint that may be cloud-based or on-premise. Our Sendable offering is just that. We broker the interactions between people and systems. Brokering includes adding layers of visibility, management, and enforcement. In this case, it’s important to offer multiple ways of connecting and multiple ways of provisioning, from ad-hoc to more formalized adapters and interfaces.
Finally, we look at the Cloud as being half of any domain-to-domain exchange of information, whether it’s people-to-people, system-to-system, application-to-application, or business-to-business. Companies of any size need to seriously consider a hybrid approach to MFT, B2B, and EAI overall.
Neil Chesanow just published a very informative article for Medscape titled “Why Your Patients’ Data May Not Be Safe: 5 Steps to Protect It”
I had the pleasure of talking with Neil as he was writing the article and I must say that I’m impressed with the 5-step approach he outlines to prevent privacy breaches.
1. Develop a strict-but-realistic security policy
2. Control access to patient data
3. Monitor electronic health record (EHR) activity
4. Require more complex passwords
5. Encrypt all outgoing files
Although written from a medical/healthcare point-of-view, the steps can be applied to help any business or organization think through some of the issues surrounding the protection of sensitive and confidential files and data.
One of the more critical points that I believe Neil highlighted is how important it is to control access to confidential information. Access to sensitive files and data should only be granted to people that are required to use it as part of their job. Not every employee or external partner should have access to all company information…. And it’s easy enough to control and enforce access by applying simple rules and policies.
Monitoring, reporting and auditing file and data activity is another critical point raised by Neil. The ability to see who accessed sensitive information, when and how many times they access it, whether they moved or sent it to another location or person, and if/how the transmission and file itself was secured and encrypted are important pieces of information from both an internal security policy as well as compliance perspective. Believe me, you don’t ever want to turn down an eDiscovery judge’s request to provide an audit trail for a particular file or communication and not be able to provide it.
We recently published our fall issue of Ipswitch Insight, our customer newsletter.
Please take a few minutes to catch-up with us. And if you’re not in the mood to read, then just sit back and watch the video of Bill Cohn’s reaction to some of our survey results.
Table of Contents:
- IT Pros Use Personal E-Mail to Hide File Transfer Activity
- Customer Story: Enterasys
- Overcoming Key File Transfer Problems
- Solutions Across the File Transfer Continuum
If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, shoot us an email at MyStories@ipswitch.com and we’ll add you to the list next time around. And of course, we’d love to hear all about how you are using Ipswitch File Transfer solutions.
On Wednesday, November 3 and Thursday, November 4, Ipswitch File Transfer will be exhibiting and speaking at SecureWorld Expo, the leading regional security conference that brings together the security leaders, experts, senior executives, and policy makers who are shaping the very face of security.
The “Exhibits and Open Sessions Registration” for SecureWorld Expo is complimentary and it gives you access to the expo floor, the keynote presentations, and open industry expert panels. Plus, you’ll get to hear the luncheon keynote from L. Frank Kenney, “The Data Breaches You Don’t See Hurt You The Most,” and the industry expert panel “Data Protection: Walking the Thin Line Between Employee Productivity and Security.”
Here are the details:
What: SecureWorld Expo – Dallas
Where: Plano Convention Centre, Plano, TX
When: November 3, 2010 and November 4, 2010
Why: Meet the Ipswitch File Transfer team, learn about our solutions (from WS_FTP to MessageWay), listen in on L. Frank Kenney’s luncheon keynote, and keep up to date on the latest in the security world!
Plus, if you visit us and mention this blog post, you’ll receive a Starbucks gift card – on the spot!
See you in Dallas!
