Keyword: what is digital rights management

If you’ve been investigating secure file sharing for high-stakes financial transactions, you’ve likely run across two terms: digital rights management and virtual data rooms. Both are crucial to securely delivering documentation to key stakeholders, but they are not the same thing. In fact, you need a combination of the two to meet industry and regulatory standards for your next big transaction.

In this post, we’ll address the questions: What is digital rights management, and what are virtual data rooms? We’ll explore how the best platforms combine both to create a secure environment for digital asset protection and more.

What is Digital Rights Management?

Digital rights management (DRM) refers to a range of technologies that control how digital content is accessed, used, and shared. At its most basic level, you may have used it on a platform such as Google Docs, which allows you to set basic levels of access control to restrict how others interact with documents you own.

DRM technology is essential in deals involving sensitive documentation, such as contracts, financials, intellectual property, and compliance reports.

A New Level of Document Access Management

Advanced DRM takes this much further. It allows companies to control the following:

  • Who accesses which documents
  • Whether a user can share documents
  • What can and cannot be downloaded
  • How long users can access individual files
  • Revoke access to the files even after downloading

Advanced DRM gives companies complete control over all their documentation at every stage of a deal. This makes regulatory and data privacy law compliance easier and creates audit trails that are essential for demonstrating compliance with these key pieces of legislation.

Security and Tracking

DRM software also protects your files with advanced encryption. For example, leading systems, like CapLinked’s FileProtect, use 256-bit encryption to protect your documents while in transit and in storage.

Dynamic watermarking is another feature that deters users from unauthorized sharing. It embeds information, such as IP addresses, usernames, and dates, into digital files. Their dynamic nature means they are updated in real-time. This makes it harder for users to share them, and makes it easier to find the source of the leak if they do.

Monitoring Activity

If you are brokering a deal involving multiple parties, you can gain an advantage by monitoring engagement. Digital rights management enables you to track who accesses your documents and when. This can give you a good idea of which parties are genuinely interested in your deal, helping you focus your time and attention on the most promising leads.

What Are Virtual Data Rooms?

Virtual data rooms (VDRs) are secure, online workspaces that multiple parties can access. Within the VDR, users can access documentation, leave comments, and post questions to collaborate in one secure space. They are essential for due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations, and regulatory audits.

The best VDRs remove the need to transfer documents via email or other file-sharing platforms that do not offer the level of security businesses need for high-stakes transactions.

VDR with Advanced DRM: Best of Both Worlds

A virtual data room brings all the documents needed for your transaction together in one secure space. Advanced digital rights management provides you with full control over who accesses your content. While they are useful technologies separately, together they form a complete solution for secure transactions.

The CapLinked Difference

CapLinked’s VDR uses FileProtect, our proprietary digital rights management software that lets you maintain complete control over everything uploaded to the VDR. The benefits of CapLinked’s VDR with advanced DRM include:

  • Protect valuable business assets from falling into the hands of bad actors/competitors
  • Collaborate with multiple stakeholders with confidence
  • Restrict access to documents to authorized users only
  • Comply with industry and regulatory standards on data sharing

Multiple Use Cases

CapLinked supports a wide range of real-world use cases, making it a versatile tool for any data-sensitive industry. For example, CapLinked’s VDR platform allows you to securely share and collaborate on the following documents:

  • Financial data: The secure sharing of financial data is vital to your business security, as well as for regulatory compliance. Restrict access strictly to those who need it, and never lose sight of your financial statements, audit reports, and other financials throughout transactions.
  • Trade secrets: Your intellectual property may be your company’s main asset. FileProtect ensures access is limited strictly to those who need access to it.
  • Strategic plans: Share internal reports and strategy documents with confidence, knowing you retain full control over who sees them and how they are used at all times.
  • Healthcare information: HIPAA compliance is essential for all businesses operating in the healthcare space. FileProtect’s protocols allow you to ensure all protected health information (PHI) is shared securely within the VDR.

Key Benefits of FileProtect

CapLinked’s FileProtect digital rights management software addresses the limitations of legacy DRM software. It provides persistent file-level protection across devices, platforms, and user environments. Best of all, no clunky plug-ins or native apps are required – everything is hosted on the cloud.

Key advantages of FileProtect include:

  • Ongoing protection: Whether files are downloaded, CapLinked’s protection travels with them. You retain control over your documents at all times.
  • Granular permission controls: You can restrict file actions in multiple ways, including setting view-only access, disabling printing, preventing downloads, and setting file expiry dates.
  • Revoke access instantly: If a user no longer requires access to a file, or you fear it has fallen into the wrong hands, you can instantly revoke access, even after it has been distributed.
  • No plug-ins: Files protected by FileProtect can be opened on any modern browser, with no need for plug-ins or proprietary software that slow down the file-sharing process.
  • Secure across platforms: FileProtect operates across all modern operating systems and browsers. Users can access documents on the go on their mobile devices and are not tied to a laptop or desktop.

Choose Ultimate Security and Confidence With CapLinked

Now that we’ve answered what is digital rights management and what are virtual data rooms, which will you choose for your next deal? With CapLinked, you don’t need to choose. Our advanced VDR with FileProtect combines these two technologies into one.

The result is a dynamic, secure workspace that lets you share sensitive documents without ever relinquishing control. To understand how powerful a CapLinked VDR can be for your next high-stakes transaction, start a free, 14-day trial today.