iCloud, you Cloud, we all can Cloud. Let’s minimize data security risks, too.

Between this week’s high profile security vulnerability of free, cloud-based services and the recent iCloud announcement, the good, bad, and ugly of cloud deployments have garnered a lot of attention.
For the record, Accellion solutions are sold only to business and government organizations. Our customers have a choice in deployment options including, virtual or physical appliances, and public or private cloud. They can also have hybrid deployments.
No matter where you sit on the relative benefits of cloud deployments, the fact remains that employees are increasingly taking advantage of cloud-based consumer services to share confidential information and collaborate with people outside the organization, with little to no regard for corporate and IT security policies. These consumer-grade solutions allow individuals to share, send and sync files between devices, yet leave IT and security teams with no visibility into the sharing of enterprise data. With Apple iOS’ lack of a file system, iPad users are especially prone to using these applications.
Enterprises need to get ahead of the issue of how employees share information. Best practice requirements that cannot be met with consumer, dropbox-type applications include:
o Flexible deployment options
o Centralized IT administration and management
o Full audit and log capabilities
o Track and own your enterprise data
Bill French at iPadCTO sums it up best:

Box, DropBox, (and soon iCloud), represent the fast-food industry of document collaboration. Accellion is a sit-down restaurant complete with a five-course menu and even a chef in the kitchen who will customize your meal if you ask. And this restaurant has a really cool customer relationship feature that will tell you precisely what you and everyone in your party ate, when you ate it, and how many calories were in it. Oh yeah, and they serve outstanding espresso in an environment that’s pleasurable to have intimate conversations without the noise and distractions of a hyper-fast eatery.

As I mentioned, Accellion, unlike competing solutions, is sold only to business and government organizations and all customers have oversight of their cloud and on premise installations – including public, private, or hybrid cloud deployments. We let you make the choice.
We offer an enterprise solution that offers the control and flexibility that IT needs while keeping business users happy with an easy-to-use file sharing application that can be used anytime from anywhere.
For more information, read our latest white paper: Secure File Transfer and Collaboration in the Cloud: Maximizing the Benefits While Minimizing the Risks.

by Accellion