How Much Protection Do My Documents Need?

I recently had an opportunity to watch race car driving live at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. If you’re a car enthusiast like me, nothing is more exciting than seeing hot sports cars driving fast on a track. Drivers are continually trying to outmaneuver each other to gain position and push their own driving abilities to the limit.

Equally interesting was the experience of watching drivers suit up and prep their cars before each race. This ritual had me thinking about the safety equipment drivers use to ensure a safe experience on the track. They wear helmets, gloves, neck braces, and fire-retardant suits, socks, and shoes. Their cars have roll cages to prevent the passenger compartment from getting crushed in the event of a rollover accident.


Race Car Driver – Adam Huff

Just as race car drivers need to be concerned about safety on the track, organizations also need to be concerned about the security and confidentiality of the information they share. But not all safety equipment or, in this case, collaboration solutions are created equal.

Some collaboration solutions focus entirely on ease of use rather than security. It is like driving a car without a seat-belt. This might be adequate most of the time, but you don’t want your organizations’ 10-K ending up on CNBC before the official quarterly announcement is made. We wear seat-belts every day because we never know when we’ll be in an accident. Likewise, your organization needs to securely share information on an on-going basis because you never know when you’ll need that security.

Other collaboration solutions created like Fort Knox are built for specific file sharing use cases. These might be an option for negotiating billion dollar deals where money is no object, but not for organizations looking to deploy secure collaboration solutions across enterprise. Using this type of solution is like driving a Volvo along a quiet 25 mph two-lane country road with a racing helmet and harness.

And lastly, some collaboration applications contain both the ease-of-use internal and external users’ need, while giving the enterprise organization the protection it requires. Accellion offers organizations the ability to securely share files with people across corporate boundaries, while ensuring enterprise security and compliance. Accellion is like driving a zippy, yet safe Acura TL or a BMW 328i with a regular seat-belt. You have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your information is being shared securely.

Posted by Nina Seth:
Nina is Product Marketing Manager at Accellion.

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one hears it, does it make a sound?  Or the file sharing equivalent – if an employee uses a free personal file sharing account, and IT doesn’t know about it, does it still present a security risk?  You bet it does.



This week’s CIO UK article entitled CIOs: Break security rules to make them better raises an important point that IT needs to get involved with the applications and devices that employees are bringing into the workplace in order to improve security.

IT experimentation with consumer oriented services lets IT see the type of services that employees are looking for but also gives IT firsthand knowledge and experience of the alarming security implications.
Anyone who has signed up for a free dropbox type of account knows how convenient it is for syncing files.  At the same time anyone with a sense of information security gets this niggling feeling that something isn’t quite right about the ease of moving files out of the organization.

So if employees are using free personal file sharing accounts for enterprise use and IT doesn’t know about it, does it create a data security and compliance risk?  You bet it does.  In fact an informal survey of IT folks indicates that in most organizations IT does know that employees are using a variety of free personal  file sharing apps.

So what’s a good approach for IT to deal with this?  A good first step would be to signup for a free file sharing account and see firsthand not only how easy it is to use but also how easy it is to abuse.  Then make it a priority to deploy an enterprise solution for secure file sharing that makes everyone happy.  Let us suggest Accellion.

Posted by Paula Skokowski:
Paula is the Chief Marketing Officer at Accellion.

PCI Compliance Enhanced: ATC Omega Adds Wireless Intrusion Detection & Prevention

St. Louis-based Data Security and PCI Compliance firm Partners with AirTight Networks, the Leading WIPS Solution Provider

Ellisville, MO - February 28, 2011 - With the PCI Security Standards Council placing more emphasis on wireless intrusion detection and prevention, the industry-leading solution, Omega by American Technology Corporation, is ahead of the pack. The company has partnered with AirTight® Networks, a global leader in wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) products and services, to provide its customers with enhanced network security.

"Wireless intrusion is a real threat to a retail chain and it needs to be monitored continuously. With integration of the AirTight Cloud ServicesTM and Omega, customers can monitor all alerts from a single console. The biggest challenge for a retailer is to manage a widely distributed infrastructure for PCI compliance," said Shekar Swamy, ATC's president. "There is simply no other solution like this available on the marketplace today which allows administrators to monitor and manage network security policy, including wireless, through a single pane of glass and minimize the need to learn multiple technologies. That's why we're so excited to offer our Omega clients wireless intrusion detection/prevention (WIPS) service through this strategic alliance."

"AirTight Network's Cloud based WIDS/WIPS allows us to complete our spectrum of services to manage the entire PCI compliance process," Swamy continued. "All other capabilities of Omega, such as automated file integrity monitoring, real-time monitoring, anti-virus, logging, 2-FA based remote control, and reporting make it possible for large and small retailers to achieve total compliance. The hosted OmegaSecureTM solution option and the installed OmegaManagerTM system now both deliver wireless intrusion detection/prevention as an option."

"ATC's approach to technology for its customers is a perfect match for AirTight - that is to provide the enterprise with solutions that deploy easily and deliver quickly on their promises," said Jack Torgow, Vice President of Sales for AirTight. "Both AirTight and ATC provide solutions that are clearly designed to address the budget and personnel constraints of the retail industry and automate of as many tasks as possible, making it simple to meet and maintain PCI compliance."

About ATC


ATC and its Omega solutions help businesses achieve PCI compliance -- and maintain that compliance even as the standards evolve. Omega solutions are used by Quick Serve Restaurants, convenience store chains, independent operators and specialty retail chains. Omega solutions are offered in both hosted and installed options, each providing clients the convenience of managing every aspect of PCI compliance within one console. To learn more call (636) 557-7777 or visit www.omegasecure.com.

About AirTight Networks


AirTight Networks is the global leader in wireless security and compliance solutions. AirTight's patented technology protects enterprises from the growing problem of Wi-Fi security threats, while allowing organizations to better manage their WLAN environment and comply with emerging wireless compliance standards (i.e. PCI). The Company's award-winning SpectraGuard wireless intrusion prevention solution (WIPS) family provides enterprise security and compliance professionals with unparalleled capabilities to accurately detect, classify, block and locate all Wi-Fi security threats, while helping network operations staff to quickly monitor and troubleshoot WLAN performance issues. AirTight's pioneering Cloud Services family of cloud-hosted subscription services delivers the world's first and only "No Capex" multitenant WIPS, PCI wireless compliance and controller-less WLAN access solutions all in a single device. 

AirTight's award-winning solutions are used by customers globally in the government, financial, retail, hospitality, telecom, technology, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare and education sectors AirTight owns the seminal patents for wireless intrusion prevention technology with 23 U.S. and international patents granted to date (UK, Australia Japan) and more than 20 additional patents pending. AirTight Networks is a privately held company based in Mountain View, CA.

Media Contacts:
Della Lowe - 
AirTight Networks
Tel: +1 (650) 934 8191
della.lowe@airtightnetworks.com