How to ensure document security in digital business?

In today's digital world, almost everyone uses modern and often free services to share and exchange documents. This also happens in the business environment, where agility and efficiency, as well as compliance and information security, are key to ensuring competitive advantage. However, we often forget about the dangers such use poses to documents and thus to sensitive business information the security of which is a key factor determining a company's performance and trustworthiness.

Maintaining security and trust

Every year, the number of documents generated by businesses increases dramatically. With mobility and remote working, secure document management now has to deal with an extra layer of complexity.

As documents are transferred, stored and processed across devices, locations and cloud services, business and users are increasingly exposed to the risk of cyber-attacks and information abuse. Further security incidents are often caused by users themselves, through ignorance, inattention or breach of security rules.

The loss, theft or negligent handling of data poses risks to virtually every business, regardless of their size or activity. 

This is particularly true for confidential information about your business, employees and partners. Trust is extremely difficult to regain, which is why security should become one of the key factors in the operation of any business. It is necessary to ensure that the complex and dynamic document ecosystem is secure but it still fosters the growth and resilience of your business.

How to ensure greater security for your documents

Here are some of the key elements you need to manage your documents securely:

☑️ Strong passwords

Strong passwords are one of the simplest yet most effective methods to protect your documents. Make sure your users use unique and complex passwords to work with a wide range of devices and services.

☑️ Encryption

Encryption allows data to be encrypted and can only be decrypted using special passwords or keys. The use of encryption is recommended both when downloading and saving documents as it prevents unauthorised persons from accessing your data.

☑️ Limiting access to sensitive documents

Give access only to those who really need it. Define security roles with rights that allow access to individual documents and data only to users who hold the appropriate rights due to the needs of their work.

☑️ Monitoring and tracking document access

Monitoring and tracking of access is also extremely important as it enables you to detect potential misuse. Whenever a user accesses a document, this should be recorded in an audit trail, together with the reason for access. This way, you know at all times who has shared a document with whom, when and for what purpose.

☑️ Multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication is a process that requires the user to confirm their identity using several different methods, such as sending the user a link to a document by email and a short one-time password (OTP) via text message.

☑️ Implementing backup and recovery plans

As data backups are usually the only solution for restoring lost or stolen documents, it makes good business sense to do them regularly.

Which solution will guide you safely on your digital journey

Committing to a high level of information security that will deliver all of the above benefits and more is not as simple as it may have seen, and therefore not without cost. Especially if you decide to 'do it yourself'. In addition to the initial investment in the infrastructure, you need to ensure that the system is regularly maintained and that you have a professional team on hand that keeps up with the developments in the field and stays ahead of emerging threats.

It therefore makes sense to look for an alternative that is optimal and therefore more cost-effective. Many companies are choosing to implement cloud-based document management solutions.

Cloud services adhere to high standards of data storage security, offering encryption, two-factor authentication, access control and backups. Reliable providers regularly update their systems, ensuring that the latest technologies and security features are always available. 

One of the most secure and legally compliant solutions on the market is InDoc EDGE, which is the go-to solution for secure document exchange and storage for over 15,000 users. InDoc EDGE provides fast access to information, ensures the highest level of security and guarantees the integrity and authenticity of documents.

Take your first step towards greater security with a free 30-day trial of InDoc EDGE.