Pydio | 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Document Sharing More Secure

So you have a document sharing and collaboration system. You’ve deployed it so your teams can work effectively wherever they are and so you can work directly with partners and clients. So that’s it, right? You are good to go, right? These things come pre-set to be secure, don’t they?

If configuring your document sharing and collaboration system for improved security never occurred to you, you aren’t alone. Most systems out there will allow you to adjust some configurations to improve security. But a truly security-conscious platform, like Pydio Cells, will have a host of features to help you keep your documents safe. 

Here are 5 steps you can take today to improve the overall security of your document sharing and collaboration. 

1 - Deny by Default

The best and simplest way to minimize your risk and surface of attack is to implement a minimum access policy where new accounts have to request permission to access resources. When cybercriminals gain control of an account the first thing they look at is what can be accessed by this account. Deny by default ensures that compromised accounts have access to the absolute minimum resources. 

How Can Pydio Help?

• Shared workspaces are defined and created only by admins
• Cells are workspaces controlled by users. Each Cell inherits all security rules
• Access control lists can be assigned on a user/role/group basis

2 - Manage document lifecycle to reduce your surface of attack

Surface of attack is a fundamental security principle - the more stuff you try to protect the harder it is to keep things secure. By implementing data lifecycle management policies your organization can ensure that you aren’t storing data unnecessarily - which reduces storage costs and the risk of data leakage. 

How Can Pydio Help?

• Pydio Cells uses role abstraction to define authorizations and policies letting you set permission and access levels by role.
• You can add additional layers of security by adding contextual security policies on top of role-based access
• Automate version control by setting pruning policies for older versions of documents
• ​Cells Flows can automate your document purge processes

To read up on Pydio and document lifecycle management just click here. 

3 - Configure your platform for security

If security is a concern then you will most likely have chosen a security-oriented enterprise platform that supports multiple levels of security and gives you the flexibility to implement your policies (like Pydio Cells). If you haven’t really considered the security risk of document sharing you can get oriented on the issue here and here.

How Can Pydio Help?

• Self-hosting your filesharing platform instead of using SaaS solutions is the only way to control all aspects of your network configurations: firewalls, VPNs, closed networks, you name it. 
• Cells provides 8 levels of access control to for the ultimate in granular access control
• Adding rule-based security policies provides another layer of dynamic ACL resolution based on the context of incoming requests or file/folder metadata
• ​Cells includes embedded IP banning capabilities so you can control where users can access the platform from

4 - Make sure your platform is easy to use

This sounds so obvious, but how many times have you seen somebody use a 3rd party tool like WeTransfer or Dropbox to get around using a clunky corporate solution. The lesson here is that using your sharing and collaboration platform has to be easier than not using it.

How Can Pydio Help?

• With Cells, there is zero learning curve for end-users
• Material Design interfaces in all apps use a standard, modern application vocabulary that users understand at a glance
• Pydio allows users to share huge files, and ton of them 

5 - Ensure you are using best practices for access control

Login is the gateway to your system and if your access practices are second rate then so is your security. Your document sharing and collaboration system is no different - if anyone can get in, then anything can get out.

How Can Pydio Help?

• Cell supports multiple SSO frameworks but also allows admins to associate roles with profiles for added seucruity from the get go.
• Cells makes it fast and easy for end users to add two-factor authentication to a specific account. 
• Cells also allows admins to create speical Terms of Use for guests on the system

Bonus Security Features in Cells

For companies with a cybersecurity team, Cells also includes powerful audit tools. Dashboards provide an overview of the platform usage at a glance. Detailed activity reports and system logs are searchable and can be output in JSON for integration with modern SIEM tools or quickly exported as security reports in XLSX/CSV format. It’s also possible to integrate protection via your antivirus solution to scan incoming documents in real-time. And via our Cells Flows automation tool, you can program automated workflows to trigger custom alerts in real-time in response to any security event.