Corporate confidential information: threats and protection

While working in the company each employee creates a mutual number of documents and information that should be strictly confidential. Some companies solve this problem by ordering their staff to add a note about confidentiality in all outgoing letterscorrespondence. Does it help? Michael Kalinichenko, CEO of StarForce Technologies exchanges his experience in this field.

Why to protect?

It is well-known that leakages of confidential information from companies can result as financial crisis, depletion of goodwill and in some cases even bankruptcy. Marketing materials such as product descriptions, market researches and partner agreements, presentations and other information can be an object of leakages. Security of confidential information can be a base of the whole business of the company. This information is usually kept as a digital document. It can be technical requirements to products development, descriptions of special features of products, drafts, manuscripts of new books or articles, etc.

Sometimes companies of different fields of work need to protect their intellectual property from copying and unauthorized use. This situation concerns not only marketing or research agencies that retail their reports, but every company dealing with any confidential information as well. When you send any document being a price-list or commercial proposal to a potential client or future partner, you are waiting that this information will stay confidential. Unfortunately, sometimes it does not help. Price-lists can be resent to your competitors, marketing information can be shared between the partner companies, your article can be published without giving reference to you as a source.

How to avoid illegal copying?

To avoid such situation, it is better to use digital documents protection. Some companies prefer just to close access to USB-ports, DVD-devices and lock an opportunity to enclose files to e-mails so that an employee is not able to download information to a flash-card or to burn CD. But in some cases it is not just a way to meet requirements of corporate security, but also a stringent restriction (масло масляное?) of employees' functionality as they are not able to send a Non Disclosure Agreement to a future partner any more, for example,. The security blanket in this case is protection of every exact document from copying and unauthorized use. To put it into practice is possible by making documents inseparable from the viewer programs that should be bound to the computer. This way technology is used by such companies as StarForce and Adobe  In this case the viewer program should be activated at certain computers (for instance, in Accountant Departments) and documents are protected in such way that they can be opened only by special viewers activated on exact computers. Speaking about StarForce company, the program at issue is StarForce Content.

Nowadays there are several solutions for information security on the market but they do not solve all existing problems. Digital signature allows to prove authorship of the document but do not exclude its illegal distribution. The usage of e-tokens is quite effective but it is not appropriate in the case of small badges or when it is necessary to send information to the office in other country, for example. Also, it is not convenient to use it for protection of thesis, article or digital manuscript. To our mind, the most effective way to protect a digital document from copying and illegal use is to apply the software protection.

Digital documents protection

Protection of digital documents is frequently used by companies distributing electronic versions of magazines and e-books, but not many corporations use such solutions for protection of confidential information. Although, it can be very useful when it is necessary to send documents to partners or potential clients; to keep information in the corporate network. Protection of electronic documents is vital when the final version of confidential document need to be protected, sent or used by other specialists or partners. The best way to do it is to use the method of binding the protected document to special viewer application. This viewer is bound to computer in its turn. In this case, the viewer program is activated at certain computer (for instance in Accountant Department) and documents are protected so that there were able to be opened only with that viewer. Speaking about the StarForce Technologies company, we can say that for such reasons the special product called StarForce Content and aimed at document protection was developed by our specialists. This solution is created for digital documents protection in .pdf, .rtf, .doc formats against unauthorized opening, copying and distribution. The core advantages of the product are: the possibility to limit quanity of working places where the protected file can be looked though; the possibility to send the document to other company or person by different kind of ways (via Internet or on optical media). Only an addressee possessing a serial number together with a special viewer application will be able to open the protected document. The most important feature of StarForce Content is an opportunity to know (thanks to the special reporting system) on what exactly PC and at what time the document was activated. After the activation the document is bound to the computer and can not be opened at any other computer using the same serial number. If more serial numbers are needed to the user, it is possible to request the owner of the document to provide more. The most important thing is that even if document comes to other person or company, it will not be opened or readed. Thus, the  intellectual property and  the right of authorship will be kept.

The company using such solution for its confidential information can also permit or deny printing of protected documents. So, in any case a person who receives a document can't have it on paper and give it to the third part or leave it somewhere in the transport. This technology provides a high level of security for all protected documents.

Today this solution is used mainly in Eastern Europe, so the StarForce Technologies company is looking for regional representatives and partners in other countries of Europe and UK.