Document Management Systems: Why They Matter for Businesses Concerned About Turkey Breach
The SSL (Secure Socket Layer) recently issued interception errors to Google. Microsoft, and Dropbox, sounding the alarm of intercepted data at the ISP and national level in Turkey. This event acquires a symbolic stature—one, in fact, of mythic proportions, as it either signifies the end or very beginning of hacker capabilities. Only due time and the attitude businesses have in light of this information will determine which outcome prevails. And document management systems are the answer.
But no matter how you dice it, it’s been a rough week for cloud storage. Although document management systems and cloud storage are oftentimes viewed as similar technologies, this is a misconception. In fact, cloud storage comprises only 5-10% of the average document management systems vendor’s offering.
What’s more, when it comes to security, well, the document management system is the Sistine Chapel and cloud storage is basically the macaroni picture your parents begrudgingly fixed to your refrigerator with a heavy magnet twenty some years ago—an endearing attempt at something great, but not worth buying in an art gallery.
The Hacker News reported the incident on October 9th, 2016, stating that the country of Turkey blocked access to Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and GitHub. Turkey legally defended blocking these popular file sharing services for mobile users due to the sordid work of 20-year-old hacktivist group RedHack—a band of hackers reputed to have stolen nearly 60,000 emails from April 2000 onward.
An extremely bright and capable group of hackers, there’s no telling what they’ll do next or who they’ll target.
Berat Albayrak, Turkish politician and businessman, is one of the parties affected by the leak. Although some have posited Turkey shut down access to these cloud storage vendors because the government does not want citizens learning about the internal workings of the Turkish government, this claim is yet to be substantiated. That, and there are more important things to learn from the breach.
After all, Turkey blocked access to Twitter roughly two years ago after a clip of information was leaked on YouTube and Twitter regarding the corruption of Turkey Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and if that event didn’t spurn public mutiny, neither will the recent hack.
How Can Businesses Use Document Management Systems to Prevent What Turkey’s Experienced?
Although it’s worth looking at the leak from a political angle, depoliticizing the hackers’ efforts so they can be viewed in the context of global business offers an entirely different and, potentially far more beneficial perspective.
Even if you have nothing to hide except your customers’ sensitive information, what if a similar event happened within your company? It’d be nearly impossible to control what happened from that point forward, and customers’ sensitive information may end up breached, compromised, or stolen—resulting in a damaged reputation for your organization, customers’ identity theft, and, perhaps, the inability to continue your business.
That’s right: business continuity is no longer just an issue of profits—it’s an issue of maintaining the highest order of security. The solution is to prevent the problem from ever happening, and companies that choose to rely on the right technology can make the peace of mind and business continuity that come with that a reality—a differentiation from the competition.
Relying on not just an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) level of encryption, but also a 256-bit, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) bank-grade security system for file sharing of sensitive information can stop even the most capable hackers in their tracks, and this technology serves as a fitting alternative to the breach-susceptible aspects of email and mere cloud storage. Better yet, this encryption in file sharing is just one of the many things that makes the document management system great for any business in any industry.
When will you rely on document management systems to safeguard your organization the next time a hacker wants in?