Document Security Requires a New Approach

by Steven Li, Chief Technology Officer

In today’s digital world, information security is one of our most vexing problems. At Foxit, we are incredibly aware that business leaders face serious challenges in protecting sensitive data and systems that, if breached, compromise customers, partners and stakeholders—and seriously harm an organization’s ability to do business.

Even though ransomware may be grabbing headlines, cybercriminals are not the only culprits when it comes to security leaks. Today’s security breaches very often come from within: from employees, business partners and customers who intentionally expose sensitive information. And this confidential information resides in none other than the data container known as the document.

Document Security

The simple document is an increasingly critical area of security vulnerability.

We bring a new approach to document security that can address some of these inherent vulnerabilities of documents in the digital age.

Before we look at a new approach, consider just a few insights from a recent survey that we sponsored conducted by the Business Performance Innovation (BPI) Network:

• The vast majority of organizations routinely develop documents containing confidential information (three-quarters do so on at least a weekly basis);
• Sixty-two percent of respondents don’t have effective document security tools used in their organization;
• Forty-four percent don’t have effective document security policies in their organization;
• Survey respondents say the biggest security concern for documents, by far, is the accidental release of confidential information;
• Six in 10 respondents say they or someone they work with has accidentally sent a sensitive document to the wrong party;
• Release of sensitive documents can have costly repercussions – from lawsuits, reputational damage and competitive risks, to financial losses, lost productivity and employee dismissals.

The Age of Connectivity

The age of connectivity is making it easier than ever for information to be leaked. The simple click of an email send-button can launch a highly sensitive document to places it was never intended to go.

So far, connectivity has only served to increase document security vulnerabilities. We strive to turn the tables. Documents need to become part of the Connected Age.

We have updated the digital document in ways that makes it more trackable, controllable and secure. By embedding documents with an identity and connecting them in the cloud, businesses can gain much more control over their documents and the confidential data contained in them – even after even after a document leaves the premises.

Recalling Connected Documents

Our software makes it a truly connected document that can be remotely recalled, erased or redacted in all of its connectedness after it’s sent.

Think about it: a document containing confidential trade secrets is accidentally sent to a competitor via email. Our software enables a company to quickly disable the document.

Or say a document is widely circulated and it’s discovered that information is incorrect or damaging to the company. The originator of that document can correct the mistake in every online instance of the document anywhere in the world.

The PDF not initially created for a connected world. We believe updating that technology to achieve a more secure and controllable document for the Internet Age is essential to overcoming one of today’s biggest security vulnerabilities.

I’m Steven Li, chief technology officer at Foxit Software, and I hope you enjoyed this article.

Leave me a comment if you agree or disagree with the comments expressed here.