FILES.COM PRODUCT AND COMPANY BLOG

Conducting business in a paperless office is rapidly becoming the norm for organizations in a broad range of industries, most notably healthcare, education and enterprise software. Real estate is one of the fastest-changing modern workplaces, particularly as agents become more mobile and communicate with clients through text, email and paperless real estate office software. Boundless paperwork is one of the most notorious frustrations for many in the process of obtaining a mortgage for a new home or other property, but with new advancements in cloud security for real estate document management software, realtors and clients alike feel empowered to ditch the physical stacks of paper while understanding their private information will be kept secure.

It is in the best interest of any modern organization to develop and document specific rules for its employees regarding the use of personal devices to access or store work-related information. This not only applies to the use of personal smartphones, tablets or laptops to access company files, as stringent policies regarding removable storage devices are making an appearance in larger enterprises. Banning removable storage devices (USB sticks, SD cards and flash drives) completely in a strengthened effort to keep data secure could soon become the new norm.

This is a quick update that applies to certain legacy customers on old plans that are no longer offered.

With new information now available pertaining to the largest personal information infraction in history, the Equifax data breach, the security of stored data is top of mind for much of the population. The massive cybercrime led to the compromising of troves of sensitive consumer data, including social security numbers, credit card numbers, drivers license numbers and passport information. The breach set new precedents for security measures not only across professional enterprises, but also among individual members of the public. A new focus on cloud security standards, and skepticism regarding the safety of providing personal details to third parties, has birthed much misinformation sparked from fears of further attacks.

Any business handling private customer information must have a data security plan in place — of particular note is those storing credit card numbers. Retailers not only need a secure file transfer platform for their own internal records, they also need to be mindful of where they are housing information pertaining to their customer base. There is a level of trust among shoppers when they voluntarily pass their financial information along to stores to purchase an item or provide contact info for a loyalty or reward program. Retail businesses need to take every actionable measure possible to avoid data breaches and ensure the safekeeping of their clients’ information.

Millennials, currently the largest living generation, account for a third of the U.S. labor force. In seven years, it is estimated that millennials will surpass Gen X and Baby Boomers in the workplace by making up 75 percent of those employed. It's no secret this generation is highly connected and digitally savvy, having grown up with technologies that continue to emerge and improve at lightning-fast speeds.

In an era where vast amounts of data are floating around and being accessed from a large network of devices, cloud file sharing security must be a top priority for any enterprise that collects personal or sensitive information. The threat of a data breach is an especially serious reality for those in industries where sensitive, confidential information is being collected from clients or patients. Healthcare professionals, in particular, should be keenly aware of the consequences that can occur when the security of patient records is left unchecked.

When it comes to maintaining data security throughout your organization, careful consideration must be made to the solution you adopt as your cloud storage for business. According to a recent Digital Shadows report, 12,000 terabytes of sensitive data is currently visible on the open web. This includes files such as tax returns, employee pay stubs, salary information, healthcare data and even internal security assessment documents.

Beginning May 25, 2018, enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation will go into effect. Organizations across the globe conducting business in the EU will be impacted by this EU Parliament regulation, including but not limited to health care providers, media agencies, law firms and financial professionals. Businesses large and small need to prepare for changing regulations regarding the privacy of customer sensitive data, how and where it is stored, which devices it lives on and how it is accessed, lest they face significant violations leading to substantial fines.

Exciting things are in the works here at BrickFTP! We are very close to launching our new International File Storage feature, which will allow all of our customers to choose the country (or countries) in which their files are stored.