Complying with data regulations is a key consideration for every modern business. And with the vast amount of digital data being created and shared every working day, there’s more to keep track of than ever. Filing cabinets in a back room simply won’t cut it from data security or efficiency perspectives.
Digital file sharing
Sharing files via paper-based methods quickly becomes unworkable at scale, and paper systems also have a big margin for human error. This doesn’t simply mean delays and frustrating customer service, but raises the risk of leaking sensitive information and breaking data compliance regulations.
There are several digital sharing platforms on the market where you can upload, edit and share files. However, not all of them help you to remain compliant, and some can lead to stressful and time-consuming audits later down the line.
Egress Secure Workspace makes file sharing easy and safe for users, allowing for productivity and data security at the same time. Everything is audited and sharing rights can be revoked when needed, meaning the system admin has full control over the access and sharing permissions. It offers advantages for customers too – they can collect data from third parties without giving them access to Secure Workspace.
Staying compliant with file retention policies
Personal data can be subject to strict regulations, requiring organisations to delete data once they no longer need it, or delete it at an individual’s request. If this process is done manually, it leaves a significant amount of room for human error and accidental breaches of regulation.
Secure Workspace allows you to set up an automatic file retention policy, removing manual processes (and human error) from the equation. This lets security teams maintain peace of mind when new documents are added to the platform, safe in the knowledge that they will be automatically deleted exactly when they’re supposed to be.
Detailed administrator dashboards give your admins access to an organisation-wide view of Secure Workspace, complete with usage statistics, file activity, and volume metrics. That means if auditors did come calling, you can provide them with granular audit logs that track the date and time of all user and administrator activities, including opens, location, sharing, editing, and downloads.
Automatic ‘housekeeping’ of your workspace
Anyone working in a large (or even small) business knows that shared workspaces can become cluttered and unwieldy as the years go on. People add files that are needed and useful at the time, but lose their value as they become irrelevant or are replaced by new documents or different processes.
When employees don’t delete or archive these documents, they can end up wasting space as colleagues might not know whether they’re allowed to delete them or not. You can end up with folder or entire areas made by people who left the company years ago and are long past being useful. Secure Workspace helps by giving you a couple of flexible ‘housekeeping’ options.
You can set files to be automatically moved to the recycle bin based upon when they were last accessed. For example, if they haven’t been touched for a set period of time, say 100 days. The admin can then set a further time limit, after which the files will be automatically deleted for good. Or they can choose not to have a clean-up policy, in which case the files will stay in the recycle bin until they’re manually deleted.
Avoiding breaches with encryption
Encryption is a vital part of data security – so it’s a nice benefit when it’s done automatically. Secure Workspace offers an encrypted collaborative environment for sharing files, organising workflows, and editing documents and annotating PDFs in real time. Your teams can seamlessly store sensitive content and keep sensitive information safe from unauthorised access.
Each of your files within Secure Workspace is in safe hands. We only host files in cloud storage accredited to ISO 27001 / 9001, and we perform anti-virus and MIME checks on all incoming files, before using AES-256 bit encryption to protect them within our environment.
These tight security standards help you to avoid the (potentially serious) regulatory after-effects of a data leak. And if a user does become compromised, an admin simply needs to disable that single account, rather than shut down the entire file sharing platform.