When moving their files to the cloud, many business worry about the security of their files and emails, and whether or not someone would be able to access them without the company’s consent. Enter encryption, the process of encoding, or scrambling, a message or file so that only the person with the right key can access it. Encryption doesn’t actually prevent a malicious player from accessing a given file or email, but makes it completely unreadable.
Fileserver Encryption: Easier than Ever
Years ago, when cloud-based fileservers started to rise in popularity, many wondered about security—it seems safer, for many, to keep important documents stored locally. The truth is that cloud-based fileservers are more protected than your own computer’s hard drive, or your business’ on-premises fileserver.
Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s OneDrive protect user files with encryption. G Suite encrypts files with 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption while they are “in motion,” or being transferred to/from Google’s fileserver. 128-bit AES keys keep “at rest” files encrypted as well. Microsoft’s OneDrive uses SSL encryption to protect files in motion. Microsoft is now offering per-file encryption for OneDrive for Business users, which means that if a single encryption key is compromised, a hacker will only be able to access a single file. NetSuite enforces 128-bit encryption during any session. This ensures a malicious party can’t see the user credentials or any of the information being transferred.
All the services offer two-step verification, which requires users to enter an extra code, either via a code generator app or a text message, alongside their password. The second device makes it much harder for a hacker to get access to any files, and Bi101 certainly recommends our customers take full advantage of the additional peace of mind.
The Many Email Encryption Options
The truth is that there are a huge number of email encryption options available, some through Bi101, and some that companies can subscribe to on their own—these are often called encryption as a service (EaaS) providers. These EaaS systems can be extremely useful, but they do add another layer of complexity. It’s yet another service to contend with an integrate into your systems. With Bi101, your encryption solution is fully integrated into your everyday operations. We do all the hard work for you.
Our bread and butter is SendSecure, our in-house developed browser plug-in that helps Gmail and Outlook users enable email encryption with a single click. It runs off of Google Message Encryption, one of Google’s own services, and prevents the need to type “Confidential” in the subject line for each encrypted email that needs to be sent.
Of course, email encryption can get more sophisticated than that. Mimecast is a more comprehensive cloud-based security solution, which helps protect against spam, malware, and viruses, while also helping companies meet compliance requirements. Its Outlook email encryption features mean that companies can send large encrypted files with access keys and custom expiration dates, all of which help keep important IP from getting into the wrong hands.
We also partner with Barracuda Networks, which offers an incredible suite of tools to protect users from phishing and denial of service attacks, in addition to securing every email with TLS or AES 256-bit encryption. The service can also help ensure that a company’s users never send out malware or spam themselves. Content enforcement restrictions allow administrators to prevent confidential details about customers from being sent via email, encrypted or not.
The truth is that encryption is becoming less a specialized service and more a built-in offering from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and NetSuite. It’s standard fare, and expected from cloud offerings. That said, consolidating your software services is going to make your business more efficient and less complex—at Bi101, we’re here to help keep you from getting scrambled about encryption.