How SendThisFile Aids in Data Loss Prevention

All IT managers or system administrators have a certain amount of fear around the security of their company’s network and the confidential information that it contains. But don’t let fear ruin your life, there are steps you can take! Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a strategy for making sure that sensitive or critical information is not sent outside the corporate network. The term is also used to describe software products that help a network administrator control what data end users can transfer.

In the case of the latter, using a system like SendThisFile for your file transfer needs is part of an effective strategy for DLP, for these reasons:

• There are no backups – when you transfer a file using SendThisFile, you are doing just that – transferring. The file will exist on the source computer and once received, on the recipient’s computer. The actual file though, is encrypted in transit and at rest, so there is no backup of the transferred file.
• You control data expiration – SendThisFile allows the sender to set the number of days that the file can be accessed by recipients. Once that time passes, the file is deleted and no longer available for download by the recipients.
• You control the number of downloads – controlling the number of downloads is kind of like a fail-safe device. If you have 1 recipient and you set the # of downloads to 1, even if the download link is shared publicly, the data is inaccessible after the original download.
• You can verify senders – to ensure the correct people are sending out trusted data, account administrators can register specific users by having them authenticate their email addresses before sending files.
• You can verify recipients – part of data loss prevention is making sure that when data is sent out, it is received by the intended recipients. With SendThisFile, you can ask your recipient to authenticate by registering their email address and using a password.
• You can control the domain of recipients – if specifying one email address is too limiting, a great way to make sure that data ends up in the right hands is to specify domain access, meaning that the recipient must have an email address within a specific domain, such as a company email address.
• We use a proprietary deletion process – It’s not just enough to know that data is encrypted in transit and at rest. You should also know that when you delete a file – it IS deleted. With some systems, when you “delete” a file, the access link is changed so the recipient can no longer access it, but your vendor may maintain the file, just in case. This might sound like great service to some, but to those who require the deleted data actually be deleted, it is troublesome. At SendThisFile, we use a proprietary process that involves making multiple passes over the file to insure there are no remnants left intact.
• We offer audit logs – once you have all of the above in place, the final important piece for DLP is oversight. SendThisFile Enterprise accounts have access to transfer audit logs that give the account manager important information about each upload and download, like IP addresses, date and time the files were transferred/accessed and file size. It’s a great way to see who is sending what, and to whom. This can alert you of anything that seems out of the ordinary.

Using a service like SendThisFile is only part of an effective DLP plan. If you have questions about steps to take, talk to one of our great Solutions Sales Specialists, like Zach Downs or John Stephens, to see if SendThisFile fits into your DLP plan!

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