The Dangers of Free File Sharing Online for Board Members
The internet brought us many new ways to share data. The dangers of the internet quickly became apparent as parents scrambled to protect their children from things that could harm them. Some time later, adults began to learn that the internet can be a dangerous place for them as well. The internet is an amazing tool for connecting with family and friends. It’s great for personal use and the invention of apps and other digital tools have made it even better for business.
It’s easy to see why file-sharing apps have become so popular. They’re versatile, easy to use, mobile-friendly, and accessible remotely. One of the best things about file-sharing apps is that they’re affordable—in fact, sometimes they’re free. If you think about anything that you’ve ever gotten for free, it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be. Either it’s pretty disposable, or it doesn’t have all the features as products that you pay for. In the case of file-sharing, free file sharing online versions lack the necessary security for business use.
There are dangers that businesses need to be aware of when using any kind of file-sharing platform, even those they pay for. The most important thing to consider with a free file-sharing online app is that it requires you to entrust your security to an unknown third party. You can only hope that they’re working in the best interest of your company. As a board director or senior executive, it’s your duty to ensure that the technology you use isn’t placing your company’s data and personal information at risk. While today’s advanced technology accompanies many new dangers, it’s also the solution to highly secure file-sharing technology when you use a BoardEffect board management software system.
Trusting Your Data to a Third Party
Perhaps you’re wondering if you can trust file-sharing apps that are provided by top names in IT like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft Azure. Many businesses think so. Consider that IT giants developed these apps to appeal to the general public. Theses apps incorporate some security measures, but they weren’t designed to protect the types of sensitive data that your business deals with every day.
The bulk of the danger rests with the fact that third-party file-sharing services work by taking your data outside of the company’s protected IT environment. The risk is that the data’s privacy settings are outside of the control of the enterprise.
Most cloud services encourage users to back up their data in real-time and that means that data that wasn’t meant to be shared can be seen by unauthorized personnel as well. The best way to avoid this type of risk is to ensure that your provider encrypts your files while they are at rest and while they’re in transit within a range between 128 to 256 bit.
Concerns About the Risks of Leaking Data
It’s important to consider that many resources in the cloud are shared. This is a danger that causes the risk of your data being leaked. It’s been discovered that certain third-party services have been viewing or mishandling data. When you’re dealing with sensitive or business data, this is a huge risk. It also opens the door for external threats, malicious hacks from the cloud providers. The best strategy to keep file-sharing safe is to depend on file encryption and stronger passwords, as well as having a service that’s monitored around the clock and goes through regular rigorous third-party security testing, such as BoardEffect provides.
Risks of Allowing Board Directors and Employees to Bring Their Own Device
Everyone likes to use their own electronic devices when they can. They get used to the feel of the keyboard and the layout of the screen. New software has made it easier to accommodate employees in this way. It saves the company from having to buy equipment. This can be especially helpful for nonprofit organizations that don’t necessarily have the funds to buy the board and staff computer equipment. What’s the harm? The dangers are higher than you think.
People using their own devices can bring additional security risks if they’re not properly managed. Consider how often someone loses a device or it gets stolen. When the device goes missing, so does all the data that’s stored on it. The device becomes a viable target for cybercrime. Without the proper tools in place, it would be nearly impossible to track and monitor all devices.
When minimal security measures are in place, there are great risks of being hacked even if the service provides encryption. It’s vitally important that your data is encrypted and transmitted over a secure connection while it’s being transferred to another location. Security features should prevent outsiders from accessing the cloud’s metadata as well.
Managing Cryptographic Keys
Enterprises have long struggled with how to manage cryptographic keys securely. The only way to do this is to secure the key management process from the beginning and by being unobtrusive, automated, and actively monitor it. The keys need to be jointly-secured and it should be challenging and tedious and there should be no way that anyone can access your information without authorization. It’s the only way that you can be sure that your business isn’t at risk as its being transmitted.
How Robust Are Your Service Provider’s Credentials?
It’s a fair question to ask about your provider’s credentials. Do you know if your company’s data is stored with another company’s data? If so, it could lead to a potential data breach by a third party. The cloud is restricted based on user credentials, but are your provider’s credentials stored in the cloud as well? Credentials have various levels of security strength which may be based on the user’s password habits, and you can’t count on the security habits of people you don’t even know.
While hackers may not be able to access data in your files, they may be able to gain enough access to perform other tasks like copying them or deleting them. The only way to prevent this is to ensure that your data is encrypted using your own secure credentials which is something a BoardEffect board management software program offers your business as a matter of course.
Essentially, BoardEffect’s security system is fully contained, offering your organization state-of-the-art security. That’s just one of the major benefits of BoardEffect. BoardEffect offers all the board features that your organization needs for managing board materials from online board books to event scheduling to collaboration and reporting. Get the modern governance solution for the most powerful and effective decision-making.
