Businesses have many different choices when it comes to selecting document management software (DMS). When you think about which option is right for your organization, you may assume that they’re fairly similar, so you might as well choose the cheapest one. Unfortunately, this can backfire because choosing a low-cost provider may result in the compromised security of your data.
The Importance of Security for Document Management
Obviously, you don’t want your files to be seen by unauthorized individuals. You also don’t want your documents to be altered, transferred, or deleted by just anyone. Therefore, it makes sense to evaluate the security of your document management software.
Keeping your paperwork in a filing cabinet won’t protect your documents from theft. In fact, using paper in your office is more likely to lead to employee theft, especially up until the point the documents are stored safely. The good news is that choosing document management software can reduce your chance of becoming victim of a data breach. But you have to choose the right one.
eFileCabinet takes security very seriously. In order to protect your information, we provide you with the ability to set up specific user roles and follow documents through the audit trail. We also encrypt all of your files to prevent unauthorized access.
The Need for Specific User Roles
Having specific user roles makes it easy for you to control who can access what. You don’t have to think about each employee and what they need. Instead, you can determine access based on their job title and position within the company.
It’s important to set up user-based permissions to control who has accessed to your files and from which devices. For example, employees working in manufacturing don’t need access to all of your accounting records. And only HR people should have access to documentation about the hiring and firing of employees.
When you set up user roles, it might be best to err on the side of caution. New employees should always undergo a background check before you give them access to your document management software. And regardless of the job title your employees have, you should only give them the information they need to do their job. If it turns out that they need additional documents, you can always decide to increase their access, but it’s best to start with the minimum required.
Users Need Strong Passwords
When your employees set up their account and select a password, it’s important that they use a strong password. Strong passwords include a combination of numbers, letters, and symbols. They also should consist of 8 characters or more. Obviously, you should avoid using passwords that are easy to guess. This includes number or letter sequences, such as “1234” or “abcd”, but it’s also not a good idea to use your own birthday as a password. The more complex your password is, the better. Plus, to be extra safe, it’s a good idea to change passwords periodically.
Keeping Documents Authentic with Audit Trails
To keep documents secure and ensure their authenticity, your company should have policies and procedures in place for creating, altering, and archiving documents. Your document management software should make it easy to follow these procedures with the document workflow. Additionally, your DMS should allow you to audit your files. That’s why eFileCabinet’s audit trail allows you to see which user changed the document as well as who accessed it and when. You can even see previous versions of the same document inside of the audit trail.
Your Files Should Be Encrypted
In order to keep your information safe, proper document management software uses SSL/TLS encryption for your information. SSL/TLS encryption also protects your login information as well as your documents. Even if someone was able to hack into the security of the document management software, they wouldn’t be able to read any of your data.
When Security Data Breaches Are Avoidable
Since information is valuable, it’s not surprising that security data breaches are becoming more and more prevalent. Security breaches happen for many different reasons, but in some cases they could have been avoided.
For example, in February 2015, health insurer Anthem revealed a breach that exposed 80 million patient and employee records. According to the company, the breach occurred over several weeks beginning in December 2014. During this breach information such as names, birthdates, social security numbers, healthcare ID numbers, home addresses, email addresses, employment information, and income data was potentially exposed. No banking information was supposed to have been taken. According to The Wall Street Journal, the information that was accessed by the hackers had not been encrypted by Anthem.
In this particular case, it’s obvious that information security was not the first priority. This breach may have been avoidable if proper encryption of all data had taken place. Unfortunately, the health industry is not the only industry that’s lagging when it comes to ensuring that their data is secure.
eFileCabinet keeps your Documents Safe
While nobody is exempt from being a target for hackers, there are lots of things that can be done to keep your information secure. eFileCabinet doesn’t take shortcuts when it comes to the security of your documents. We set up access controls so that you can share documents securely. We also use SSL/TLS encryption to keep your data safe when it is transmitted via the cloud.