For many people, cloud services are an integral part of their digital lives. Cloud services offer numerous benefits, such as the easy storage and transfer of information between devices and platforms, and the synchronisation of data across laptops, desktops, smartphones and home machines.
However, there are also security issues that go hand-in-hand with cloud services, as file sharing can also be a major channel through which important company data is leaked.
Sometimes users transmit confidential data via Dropbox and IMs, as they believe these channels to be secure, explained Vladimir Zapolansky, deputy director, Global Research & Analysis Team, and head of Technology Postioning at Kaspersky Lab. Several instances have belied this belief, and proved that cloud services are not as secure as one might believe.
From a business perspective, a quick solution to this problem would be to simply block employees from using these services, said Zapolansky. However, blocking each and every one is a gargantuan task for any system administrator.
Kaspersky Lab's solution combines two security approaches, file and folder level encryption (FLE) and application control technologies, he added. FLE for particular disk folders used for uploading critical data and automatic encryption for specific file types can be enabled.
In addition, automatic encryption of the entire range of files created by a specific application, regardless of their extensions and locations can be also configured. Kaspersky Lab's solution can also preserve the encrypted status of files as they move over the network.
He said though, that own its own, FLE is not enough, because when files are moved from the user's computer to a cloud service or other external resource, they are transmitted unencrypted.
This, explained Zapolansky, is where application control policies technology comes in. Application control can block access to cloud services for all employees who are not authorised to use them, and can restrict application access to encrypted files.
Moreover, he said application control security allows the administrator to block all cloud services with the exception of the ones which are specifically allowed, a list which can be restricted individually with the help of policies.
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