Why On Premise?
How secure assure insure is Your Data?
Cloud-based file sharing vendors want you to believe that it is safe to store sensitive data on their public servers, outside of your control. They promise your data will be encrypted; they assure you that data access will be limited to your authorized employees; they proclaim that their solutions are certified to comply with your regulatory requirements. Some even say they will “indemnify” you for litigation resulting from data misuse. What does that even mean?
The Enterprise Risks of Cloud-based File Sharing
There is a reason cloud vendors make so much noise about data security, privacy and control – they know these requirements are at the heart of all public and private organizations, including yours. They also know that, by inviting you to store sensitive data on their public cloud servers, they require you to create vulnerabilities that could compromise the trust, compliance and legal foundation of your organization.A few examples of the risk of cloud base file sharing include:
Data Privacy & Security
First, and foremost, storing data off-premises (whether encrypted and/or indemnified) exposes that data to a variety of unwanted users – government investigators, law enforcement agencies, lawyers, hackers, even file sharing vendor personnel. And, when accessing off-premise data through CDN, WebDAV or other web protocols, that data is not encrypted and may be co-mingled with the data of other companies. Additionally, once data is on those third-party servers, it often stays there – deleting it from a user account does not delete it from the storage.
Regulatory Compliance
In many instances, physically storing data from one country on servers located in another country is against the law. Similarly, legal statutes in some regulated industries require data to be secured at all times – reliance on external security providers is a compliance violation. It is important to know where your sensitive information is being stored and how it is being accessed. While regulatory compliance can be guaranteed with on-premise data storage and governance, cloud-based alternatives introduce real and significant compliance risks.
Flexibility
A company storing data off-premises is circumventing the company firewall. Cloud-based storage vendors often lack the flexibility to enforce your security policies and procedures. Specific permissions such as “no access from certain countries” or “access only from the company VPN” may be circumvented. Prudent organizations choose on-premise file sharing solutions that offer the control you require today with the flexibility to evolve as your needs change.
Vendor Lock-In
Vendors go out of business, are acquired by competitors, change their business strategies and raise their prices. If, for whatever reason, you decide to change your file sharing strategy, your ability to do so may be significantly hindered by vendor lock-in. You may be unable to make a change, even if your provider suffers security breaches, gaps in availability or aggressive pricing changes. On the other hand, when you store your data on-premise, it remains Your Cloud, Your Data, Your Way!
Control
On-premise storage – and integrated on-premise file sync and share software – is the best way to keep your data safe. On-premise file sharing solutions leverage your existing security infrastructure, integrate easily with your existing tool chains, and it keep you in control of your data. On-premise solutions don’t require you to reinvent your security policies and governance processes – they simply function within your established framework. And when your data requirements expand, you have the ability to securely scale with them.
Integration
File sharing is quickly becoming a cornerstone IT service, providing a vastly improved way to share information and collaborate. By its nature, however, file sharing must connect to many user-facing applications and, ideally, integrate with your existing technology stack. PocketData was designed from the ground up to interoperate seamlessly in an ecosystem of applications, tools and utilities. While end users rave about PocketData’s clean, professional user interfaces, IT values PocketData for the ease with which the product integrates with the existing technology stack. And PocketData’s published APIs, mobile libraries and open standards deliver an infinitely extendable file sharing foundation for your organization.