Keeping Your Mobile SharePoint & Office 365 Data Secure

It goes without saying that establishing the security of data should be at the top of any company’s list of priorities; IT administrators are more keenly aware than ever of the risks associated with leaks and cyber-attacks. Protecting trade secrets has been crucial to business success since time immemorial, so when staff access your SharePoint solution from devices offsite, SharePlus has covered all bases to ensure complete confidence.

Since the arrival of SharePoint in 2001, businesses have had access to an enormously powerful platform for storing and sharing their information over local servers protected by firewalls and other security measures. With the release of Office 365, Microsoft indicated that they are planning to move future editions of SharePoint to the cloud. Nonetheless, many users continue to use On-Premises versions of the platform and fears about moving away from locally controlled data storage remain significant.

Data on Your Device

Globalized trends in organizational structure suggest a general shift away from centralized offices towards increased distance and ‘on the move’ working. In this scenario, SharePlus offers a unique solution for ‘on the go’ businesses. Providing access to your organisation’s SharePoint platform, the solution allows distance workers to view, contribute to and use their company’s information from smartphones and tablets. A powerful tool which recognizes the needs of the modern enterprise, SharePlus is a crucial step to facilitating business by allowing workers to take advantage of unexpected opportunities.

Picture a salesperson on the brink of clinching an important agreement when the customer requests proof of a particular claim. Your salesperson would previously have been unable to access the information, but SharePlus allows them to present a convincing case to potential customers on the spot.

While SharePlus offers a compelling solution for any mobile business, it’s perfectly natural that administrators may feel some concern about potential security issues. Letting your data go “off-site” and be available from anywhere may well set alarms ringing for IT staff. For this reason, Infragistics put security at the center of our SharePlus solution. In this post we’ll be looking at some of the major security protections we’ve put in place.

What Goes There?

Naturally, the first step towards protecting your company’s SharePoint solution is to require users to enter a password - whether On-Premises or from a device. While this is hardly revolutionary, SharePlus is aware that long distance access from a device requires particularly strong measures. In worst case scenarios where an employee loses their tablet or their smartphone is stolen, additional levels of security are essential. This is why SharePlus provides secure access to SharePoint sites by addressing aspects like:

• Data Storage Security – iOS system architecture provides security features (enabled by default).
• Authentication – The user authentication on a specific device can be achieved through the combination of several mechanisms like Passcode Lock and Office 365 on the Cloud.
• Authorization – Access to SharePoint resources such as lists and documents is granted through the user’s SharePoint credentials.
• “Feature Trimming” – Based on security rules, many restrictions can be enforced over SharePlus’ functionality.

SharePlus boasts a secure data wipe triggered by a set number of failed password attempts. Even if the device is offline and therefore out of reach of the central system, SharePlus will still clear data if incorrect passwords are entered. It goes without saying that we've used the latest encryption, tunneling and SSL technology to provide state of the art protection at all layers.

Permissions

Once your distant worker has your SharePoint platform open on their iOS phone or Android device, they do not necessarily have the ability to interact with SharePoint in the same way they would at the office. Administrators can choose which permissions they are allowed and control what they see.

In the disaster situation of your worker’s iPad being stolen and their password somehow being breached, the thief would still only be able to see what the administrator has decided the worker is allowed to see. Depending on the kind of threats your off-site workers may face, these on and off site permissions can be edited accordingly.

Feature Trimming

When staff take data off site, you trust them to keep your data safe and secure. While it’s still possible for on-site staff to steal data, the temptation may be stronger when away from colleagues. We hope your business never needs to concern itself over such issues, but to give SharePlus administrators absolute peace of mind, the solution has specific user functionalities reduced.

To ensure that your information stays where it should be, SharePlus prohibits the screenshot function on devices when the tool is open. As a result it becomes far more difficult to steal data. Similarly, SharePlus can be configured to block users from carrying out ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ functions. Again, the focus is on keeping your data where it should be.

Mobile Device Management Integrations

Mobile Device Management solutions (MDM) allow Enterprises to secure, monitor, and manage mobile devices. As the “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy is spreading, security-related issues need to be addressed to avoid data breaches and other potential risks. MDM capabilities are frequently used by Enterprises and, because of that, SharePlus offers integration with some of the most commonly used MDMs, including MobileIron, Citrix’s XenMobile, Bitzer Mobile and AirWatch.

SharePlus can work in conjunction with MDM solutions to achieve enterprise security standards related to deployment, per-app VPN, authorization, data containerization, secure data wipe, and enforcement of other security policies.

Security at heart

With a raft of security features built into every layer of the build, SharePlus gives users the certainty that their data will be secure. For companies willing to embrace change and profit from the opportunity to access data on devices from the field, SharePlus finds the right balance while ensuring optimum security.

For a full run-down of our security features on SharePlus, our WhitePaper “Keeping Your Mobile SharePoint & Office 365 Data Secure” goes into detail about how we’ve ensured the safety of your data at each level of our design.