According to a new survey from Storage Made Easy, a cloud service data broker platform and related services provider, business users who share files directly using Outlook, with no security tracking of the content being shared, open the door to serious security issues including company data leakage.
Some of the key findings of the survey include:
- 90 percent of those who share files are doing so directly and not sending password protected or time sensitive links, so that files being sent or forwarded cannot be traced.
- 51 percent of businesses share file attachments using email.
- 34 percent of those surveyed are using Microsoft Outlook as the default email client.
- 45 percent of companies are worried about the security of the attachments sent over email.
“The survey results demonstrates that whilst Outlook is a ubiquitous file sharing tool, companies have no grasp of what files are being shared and with whom,” said Jim Liddle, CEO of Storage Made Easy. “Audited file sharing is a strong way to protect a company’s core asset, its data, while ensuring full compliance with regulatory requirements. Using SME’s Outlook file sharing add-in, employees can safely share files from any corporate data source – networks or the cloud – using time-expired and/or password protected links that are easily auditable.” Storage Made Easy offers the Microsoft Outlook Add-in to which Liddle was referring.
The SME Add-In to Microsoft Outlook offers the following features:
- Browse and share files securely from both public and private data clouds, including DropBox, Box, SharePoint, Amazon S3, local files, or over 30 other data clouds.
- Flexible access and sharing anywhere, anytime, from the web, desktop or any device while simultaneously providing business the visibility and control required for safe file sharing.
- Secure, trackable and audited file sharing is also available from any SME desktop or mobile client as well as the Web File Manager.
- Upload new files directly from their desktop to any of the company data sources and implement a secure auditable link.
- Email add-in features include:
- Creates password-protected or time-expired trackable and auditable links on selected files.
- Audit details show information about who shared the file, the time, and the remote IP of the user who downloaded it.
- Ensures easy access to and selection of files for attachment.
- Enables direct-from-Outlook access to any cloud file mapped to Outlook.
- Can upload files to any cloud and send a link.
CLO Inside Track: When it comes to browsing and file-sharing security in public and even private cloud environments, sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. Offerings like the SME add-in for Outlook still enable flexible file sharing from desktop and mobile clients, but the audit and tracking functionality simply adds another layer of awareness and accountability.
(For additional information contact: Storage Made Easy, www.storagemadeeasy.com.)
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