How to Safely Share Files Online

The evolution of information technology has been so rapid and entire that many companies need to jump into new technologies to stay competitive before they have a chance to properly vet their safety. Nowhere has this been more apparent than when sharing files online. This simple task is the backbone of any digital collaboration, no matter how local or long-distance. Unfortunately, sending files through conventional email or distributing them with resources like FTP servers will open them to all kinds of security risks. New innovations, like the digital data room offered by CapLinked, seek to mitigate these risks.

Why a Digital Data Room?

Sending files over traditional secure file sharing environments can be onerous, especially when you’re working on projects that require a lot of input from other collaborators. Cloud document services without the data room allow for real-time collaboration, but often at the risk of overwriting other people’s changes due to versioning issues. What does this mean? Imagine you have collaborators in three locations with open work. They are supposed to see changes, but each has a separate instance of the open document, so it’s possible that changes made in one instance will be overwritten by changes in another, just because of delays in syncing.

What the data room does is it opens a single instance in a shared electronic space, allowing collaborators to make changes in real time without any of the design issues that lead to the risks above. This beats out old methods used to share files online like emailing them back and forth, tooo. When secured properly, the data room from CapLinked provides a private space for working on documents with secure storage, making it less prone to the kinds of data theft that commonly plagued file exchanges through email or FTP.

Is a Digital Data Room More Secure Than Cloud Storage?

It’s important to understand whether your data room is cloud-oriented or not because if it is, then it will share the risks of other cloud systems. At the same time, if it is not, then it does not. Either way, the security measures in place in most digital data rooms do make them more secure than other methods of cloud collaboration.

• Invite-only access should, in theory, keep your work discreet so only those on the project will know where your digital data room is located and how to log in.
• Single-instance uploads and access through the data room means your file doesn’t propagate to every collaborator’s computer, reducing the risk of theft.
• Data rooms can be closed, and final documents downloaded, reducing the risk of theft via phishing or hacking after the project is closed by removing the access to it through this channel.
• Version tracking in data rooms provides more security by showing who edited the file each time it is accessed, so unauthorized users would be highly visible if they managed to get in.

The best data rooms incorporate CIS-standard or better encryption, so you can count on them to be secure. When you add in the closed nature of this collaboration and the control tools that managers get with data rooms, it’s easy to see why providers like CapLinked are experiencing increased demand.

What Risks Are Associated With Digital Data Rooms?

Online file sharing will never be risk-free, so understanding where threats might lie is the key to managing security for new digital resources. Data rooms are more secure than most of the other options currently available, but over time their vulnerabilities will be exploited, and they will need to be rethought. Forward-thinking providers are already anticipating this and constantly patching their interfaces to give you the best possible experience.
The risks most users will experience from sharing documents online in a data room are mostly end-user oriented. Sharing login information is the most common method of compromising any security online. While phishing is less likely to happen with discreet systems like data rooms, it is possible. Obtaining the invite information from a hacked email would also be a risk that is outside the control of your provider. To mitigate these risks, user discipline is key. For more information about how to get the most out of your digital data room, contact CapLinked about your needs or check out the plans and pricing page on the site.