In our recent webinar “File sharing: Have employee habits put your company at risk?”, Michael Osterman of Osterman Research and David Boone of Ipswitch File Transfer spoke about the issues associated with trends in individual file sharing and the impact they have on businesses.

There is continued increased usage of rogue tools to share files and information when employees don’t have an adequate solution provided to them by their business. These tools include everything from personal email accounts (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!) to cloud-based personal file sharing tools (YouSendIt, DropBox) all the way through to USB drives or what David refers to as “SneakerNet” — walking private data around the office on USB drives which can be easily misplaced or lost.

Michael and David also take a look at what information technology teams can do to deliver solutions to businesses that will address these risks, and tips on how to balance the need for end-user simplicity with the control, security and visibility required by the organization.

1. Make sure it can handle unlimited file sizes.
2. Confirm that minimal training is required to deploy it.
3. Ensure it is secure. This includes utilizing encryption both in motion and at rest, and that the message itself is encrypted too.
4. For successful user adoption, make sure it’s easy to use.
5. Finally, make sure it’s easy to integrate into your existing environment.

For the full discussion between Michael and David as well as the question-and-answer session with the audience, we invite you to view the webinar recording. We also invite you to share this with any colleagues who you think may find it useful.