Archive for the ‘FileCloud Online’ Category

FileCloud 21.3 Expands Compliance Center and Adds Google Docs Integration

New Compliance Center tabs for GDPR and HIPAA, a revamped admin dashboard, Google Docs Integration, and more

The newest release of FileCloud builds on existing features and also adds some new ones to upgrade user and admin experiences and improve ease of use.

An improved admin interface makes it easier to find and leverage information. GDPR and HIPAA tabs in the FileCloud Compliance Center join the ITAR tab in the Compliance Center that was launched with the 21.2 release. Google Docs integration means users can now edit files using Google Apps without leaving the FileCloud environment.

The 21.3 release also includes improvements for FileCloud Online. A new interactive tour helps onboard new users. Admin-users are empowered with a mini admin portal where they can easily access administrative features without switching screens.

Read on for more details on each of these improvements!

Improved Admin Interface

The admin dashboard is a critical element that defines, supports, and protects your FileCloud environment. With the 21.3 release, the admin dashboard and login portal have been refreshed with a new look and feel, alongside targeted feature upgrades. Admins can now rely on quick action and alert links at the top of the page for timely notifications and access.

The dashboard embraces a new level of customization with drag-and-drop widgets. Admins can use these widgets to prioritize or sort information based on where they place the widget within the panel. Widgets can also be resized or removed entirely and added back at any time.

Admin Panel White Background

Information within the widgets has also been optimized to provide more meaningful insights at a glance. For example, “File Type Distribution” and “User Distribution” widgets provide exact numbers when you hover over the pie charts. Specific numbers replace percentages entirely in the “System Summary” widget for usage amounts (GB) and number of users.

Compliance Center Tabs for GDPR and HIPAA

FileCloud initially released the Compliance Center with a specific configuration for ITAR compliance. This powerful tool now offers configurations for HIPAA and GDPR compliance.

These configurations (presented as tabs in the FileCloud Compliance Center) provide a list of compliance requirements. FileCloud tools and settings are paired with requirements to create a powerful and flexible set of recommendations to help govern your FileCloud environment.

Compliance Center HIPAA

Through routine scanning and automated notifications, the Compliance Center can help flag potential compliance violations and provide a solution within FileCloud. Solutions may involve updating DLP rules, adding new metadata sets, or implementing more restrictive share policies, among many others. Some solutions can be enabled directly from the Compliance Center.

Rules in the Compliance Center can be enabled or disabled as needed, to reflect a company’s external tools or solutions that may already answer a specific requirement. This ensures that your Compliance Center is working in concert with your organization’s overall processes.

Lastly, the Compliance Center Overview tab provides a search filter in the “Recent Events” column to support admins in locating specific events. This function is particularly useful for organizations working with multiple compliance configurations. The filter can capture all events across configurations or include results for specific configurations. It can also be adjusted to include information or violation events only.

Compliance Center Overview

Google Docs Integration

Since launching the Microsoft 365 and OnlyOffice integrations, the next step for FileCloud was to develop an integration for the Google Workspace. With the 21.3 release, users will be able to open, edit, save, and share Word documents, Excel files, and PowerPoint spreadsheets using Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides without ever leaving their FileCloud environment.

To enable this feature, admins must first complete a one-time configuration within the Google Cloud Platform and FileCloud’s Admin Portal (under web-edit settings). This configuration ensures that Google and FileCloud recognize one another and that the Google Apps will appear as an option through Desktop Edit in your FileCloud environment.

More information on how to perform this configuration can be found in this FileCloud Documentation.

WebEdit with Google Docs

Once the configuration is complete, users will be able to edit docx, pptx, and xlsx files using Google Apps (along with any other web edit applications like OnlyOffice or Office Online). The edit feature is restricted to the web and desktop versions of FileCloud. Mobile app users can view but not edit files in Google Apps.

FileCloud Online Improvements

FileCloud Online is also seeing significant improvements with the 21.3 release. Two major changes aim to facilitate ease of use for FileCloud Online users and admins.

Get Started With FileCloud

Users new to FileCloud Online are now greeted with a “Get Started with FileCloud” dialog box when they log in for the first time. By clicking “Let’s Go,” the user begins an interactive tour of their FileCloud Online environment. This tour guides users through foundational actions in FileCloud like uploading files and folders, setting share options, and updating the theme. Users can track their tour progress with the handy completion percentage.

FileCloud Online Interactive Tour

Mini Admin Portal

FileCloud Online is an optimized, secure platform that enables organizations to immediately begin using their FileCloud environment without worrying about managing cloud infrastructure. Your organization maintains control over a variety of security and customization options through administrative policies. The Admin Dashboard is the traditional location where your designated admins can implement changes to your FileCloud Online environment.

It can be inconvenient though to bounce back and forth between user and admin accounts. That’s why FileCloud Online now supports a mini admin portal accessible from within a user account. Admin-users can find this portal link at the bottom of the navigation pane (though it is only visible to those with the “mini admin” permission ticked in their “Admin Role”).

Following the mini admin link opens a dashboard with many commonly accessed administrative operations. Admin-users can implement or update policies without ever leaving their user portal. For any policies that cannot be directly managed in the mini admin portal, admin-users can follow links to the relevant policy screen in the full admin portal.

FileCloud Online Mini Admin Portal

Conclusion

FileCloud is an adaptive, hyper-secure file sharing, storage, and collaboration solution that seeks to resolve everyday and emerging problems across the digital landscape.

An organization’s data is more valuable than ever. FileCloud has all the right tools and the innovative scope to support security while preserving access and collaborative momentum.

For more information on what FileCloud can do for you, take a tour, explore pricing, or sign-up for a free trial!

Unstructured Data Storage Solutions

Unstructured Data Storage Solutions

Leveraging business insights to grow your company or improve a product or service is easy when you have access to structured data. This data has already been labeled, categorized, and essentially optimized for analysis.

In comparison, unstructured data remains difficult to analyze. This is partly due to the sheer variety of file types and the unsorted content they contain.

To give you the edge in fast-paced markets and industries, the right data storage solution will not only store your unstructured data but also automatically sift and analyze your data to glean actionable insights.

With the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, more data storage solutions and platforms are gaining this ability. Once the treasure trove of unstructured data is unlocked, there is boundless potential for optimization of business processes as well as targeted improvement of products and services.

What is Unstructured Data?

To understand unstructured data, it helps to first define structured data.

Structured Data

Defined as data that incorporates relations between entities and variables, structured data is typically quantitative. This type of information can be easily rendered in spreadsheets since the categories of data are predefined.

Some common examples of structured data include names, dates, and addresses, credit card numbers and other Personally Identifiable Information (PII), stock information and financial trends, and geolocation coordinates, among others. Structured data has formed the backbone of business intelligence because it is easily read, filtered, and analyzed by machine and coding languages.

Structured data is stored specifically in Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS), which enable users to add, search, or manipulate data using a specific programming language called Structured Query Language (SQL). This language was developed in the 1970s by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyceat, programmers at IBM, and officially adopted by ANSI and ISO standard groups in 1986.

Unstructured Data

Now that we’ve explored what structured data is, we can better understand the role unstructured data plays in business operations and growth opportunities.

Unstructured data is essentially remaining types of data or qualitative data. Text files like email messages and word processing documents, audio and media files, social media posts, graphics, and surveillance/satellite imagery all count as unstructured data.

Unstructured data is maintained in its native formats and has not been sorted or labeled; it cannot be translated into a spreadsheet through programming commands, nor can it be stored in a relational database in its raw format.

Without the predefined data model of entities, variables, and relations, running automated analyses of unstructured data is much more difficult.

Growth in Unstructured Data

Opting to work only with structured data is not an option for modern businesses and organizations. According to MongoDB, “80 to 90 percent of data generated and collected by organizations is unstructured,” and the volume of this type of data is growing exponentially, especially compared to the growth of structured data.

The knowledge we can gain from unstructured data is far-reaching and rich in diversity, particularly as more people gain access to the internet and technological devices. We are creating more data than ever before, and this data can be used for nearly any purpose:

  • Advertising companies can use unstructured data to pick up on trending topics among interest groups or target audiences.
  • Governments and global think tanks can chart movements or changes of populations, which then influence policy proposals.
  • Logistics companies and manufacturers can better understand how their processes affect end products.
  • Banking and Financial Institutions can refine existing services and develop new tools to fill gaps in customer support.
  • Hospitality and Entertainment corporations can identify meaningful investment opportunities for expanded properties or amenities.
  • Real Estate firms can more adeptly respond to buyers and sellers according to swiftly changing needs and market shifts.

These are only a few examples of how mining unstructured data can support common industry objectives. If it can be imagined, relevant unstructured data likely already exists – reams of valuable information that can revolutionize how businesses and organizations respond to their clients and constituents.

However, the tools needed to properly analyze unstructured data are relatively new in the field. Thus, tapping into the knowledge contained in unstructured data remains a major challenge for businesses and organizations, up to 95% of those polled by TechJury). Furthermore, “97.2% of organizations are investing in big data and AI” to develop adept solutions to unstructured data. Emerging tools and technologies will empower companies and organizations with the ability to leverage both data and content insights, expanding beyond business intelligence into lustrous fields of predictive analytics, machine learning, and data discovery and profiling.

Manage and Store Unstructured Data

To work with unstructured data, we must first be able to retain and store unstructured data. As before, we’ll first review structured data to understand the roots of data storage.

Capture and Store Unstructured Data

Data Warehouses

SQL databases (a type of RDBMS) are built for structured data – quantitative, numerical-based information comprising variables and entities. The tabular nature of RDBMS means that storage solutions take up less space and are also easily scaled within data warehouses. This makes a SQL Database much more cost-effective to maintain and expand as needed.

Data warehouses are familiar components to business intelligence components. They are, in essence, the central hubs for the entire system, from which all insights are derived. The warehouse serves as a repository for data and also runs queries and analyses.

As a data warehouse collects data and the databases within the enterprise grow, a rich data history develops, which provides an invaluable resource to analysts and scientists within an organization. The information is stable, flexible, and largely accessible, often referred to as “the single source of truth” within an enterprise. The data warehouse itself forms the backbone of widely recognized reporting and dashboard features within UI.

Data Lakes

Unstructured data cannot fit into the relations-based structure of RDBMS. Non-relational or NoSQL databases must be used instead to store and manage unstructured data. However, the qualitative nature of the data makes it harder to store, even as it absorbs more space.

The answer to this challenge is found in a data lake. This type of data repository offers an interesting level of convenience and flexibility, in that data of all kinds, structured or unstructured, raw or clean, can be added. Data lakes are scalable tools that support advanced storage and processing of unstructured data such as big data and real-time or IoT analytics, as well as machine learning.

The downside of a data lake is that all that unstructured data is not organized. The very quality that makes this repository a necessary solution to recapture the value of 90% of our available data is the same quality that makes it a challenge to implement. A variety of analyses can be run using the data stored in a data lake, but that raw data needs to be processed and organized before it can deliver any meaningful insights. Without proper oversight or consistent organization of stored data, it is very easy for a data lake to become a “data swamp.”

The often raw and uncategorized nature of data lakes means that they are not often used directly by business analysts. Instead, data scientists and developers must first curate and translate data before delivering it to business analysts, who interrogate the data and adjust business decision processes. Considering the costs of expertise, a data lake may not be immediately accessible without the support of enterprise-grade developer teams.

Alternatively, smaller organizations and businesses can set up a data lake to capture data they plan to use in the future. Establishing a data lake without an immediate implementation strategy offers two distinct benefits:

  • The cost to maintain a data lake is relatively low, especially compared to maintaining a data warehouse.
  • Early data collection ensures a rich vein from which to work later and the ability to establish data patterns and history.

As a third option, businesses and organizations can take advantage of Software-as-a-Service or Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions. Services include widely recognized names in the industry, including Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Azure offers both data lake storage and analysis in a two-part service: Azure Data Lake Storage and Azure Data Lake Analytics. Selecting AWS as your service provider grants you access to Amazon’s suite of complementary services, including Amazon RedShift (data warehousing), Amazon Athena (SQL Storage), and Amazon QuickSight (business analytics), among others.

FileCloud Meets Your Data Storage Requirements

S3 Storage FileCloud Admin Settings Preview

FileCloud is an adept solution that is continuously evolving to meet new challenges across diverse industries. You can opt for FileCloud Server (on-premises) or have FileCloud host your data in our world-class data center with FileCloud Online.

There is also a hybrid solution available that combines the best of both worlds: on-premises hosting for high-touch data, cloud storage for archived files, and FileCloud’s ServerSync to support synchronization and easy access to files and permissions wherever you are and across your devices.

Flexible Integrations

With our on-premises solution, you can choose your storage provider, either by integrating with an already-deployed service or by setting up brand new storage buckets. Integrations include Azure Blob, AWS (and AWS GovCloud), Wasabi, Digital Ocean, Alibaba, and more.

With Microsoft Azure, you can take advantage of pre-built FileCloud VMs on the Azure Marketplace, with deployment in seconds. FileCloud’s integration with Azure also ensures your active directories, permissions, and files are migrated into your FileCloud platform.

Opting for the AWS S3 storage service also provides a wealth of different options within the Amazon Marketplace. The FileCloud integration offers smooth data migration for existing files and permissions, as well as access to robust features like endpoint backup, data analytics, monitoring and governance, security, and granular permissions.

For those concerned about the relative data security of unstructured files, users can employ FileCloud’s integration with Symantec. This powerful security software suite provides anti-malware, intrusion prevention, and firewall features. Even better, Symantec’s Data Insight Solution supports administrative-level review of unstructured data to check usage patterns and access permissions.

Conclusion

Unstructured data is an increasingly vital element of analytics and business intelligence for companies and organizations of all sizes. The challenge lies in how this unstructured data is stored and leveraged to yield actionable insights.

Sophisticated solutions like FileCloud are working to put this unstructured data at your fingertips. By partnering with major leaders in the field, FileCloud aims to provide you with secure, scalable, efficient storage options that support sustainable growth and meaningful relationships with your target audience.

For more information, contact our Sales Team or sign up for a free trial here!

FileCloud Supports one of the World’s Largest Banking Institutions

FileCloud is developing ever more sophisticated features alongside the powerful benefits and UI that remain a core aspect of the solution. By responding to emerging industry needs for compliance and security, FileCloud supports productive, meaningful work for organizations of all sizes, particularly those working in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector.

A Modern Solution for the BFSI Sector

When we think about the types of information we want to secure, banking and financial data are at the top of the list. As IT infrastructure ages and threats become more refined, keeping Personally Identifiable Information (PII) safe becomes a significant challenge.

FileCloud can meet you where you are with your current IT infrastructure, providing an all-in-one secure cloud or self-hosted solution—or by integrating with your current infrastructure to bring it into the 21st century.

Email, file zipping, and VPNs are outdated and fallible, easy pickings for people who know how to break into systems and find the information that will do the most damage. FileCloud is a sleek, modern solution that provides robust, multi-layered security alongside ease of access for authorized users. With a plethora of integrations, FileCloud can incorporate legacy components like AD and NTFS permissions so you don’t have to start from scratch.

Powerful yet Flexible

The strength of the platform, the accessibility of the UI, and the functionality of features contributed to the agreement between CodeLathe (FileCloud) and one of the world’s largest banks. Here are some of the highlights that made FileCloud the best choice among competitors:

  • Security
  • Accessibility
  • Flexibility
  • Branding and Customization
  • Workflow Automation

Security

One of FileCloud’s core strengths is the built-in security from the codebase all the way through top-level, user features. Clients can choose between FileCloud Server (self-hosting), FileCloud Online (cloud hosting with CodeLathe), or a hybrid cloud storage model.

Data Residency

For those opting for FileCloud Online, data is hosted in our world-class data centers in a region of your choice. This allows banks and financial service organizations to comply with global and industry data residency requirements. Clients can also opt for different cloud storage providers/buckets (e.g., Amazon S3, GovCloud, Azure Blob).

This particular banking client operates around the world but needed to ensure data was hosted in Australia to comply with regional regulations. FileCloud offers data centers all over the world, including Sydney, Germany, Ireland, and Bombay.

Compliance

FileCloud supports compliance with major regulatory bodies around the world and across industries. Notable examples for the BFSI sector include GDPR, CMMC, FINRA, SEC (17A, 31A-2, & 204-2), Sarbanes-Oxley, and IRS Publication 1075.

Major security features include:

  • endpoint backup
  • 256-Bit AES encryption (data at rest); SSL/TLS encryption (data in-transit)
  • ransomware protection
  • malware detection and recovery
  • built-in antivirus scanning
  • two-factor authentication and single sign-on (SSO)
  • password strength requirements
  • device management (remote wipe)

Furthermore, FileCloud offers comprehensive audit capabilities, capturing Who, What, When, Where, and How file activity. These audit logs are easy to review in FileCloud’s Audit dashboard and can be exported as CSV files. Audit logs also support FileCloud’s Records Management Platform, an automated system that protects and preserves files throughout the document lifecycle, from creation and distribution through archival and deletion. Records Management takes the effort out of document management, ensuring critical records are identified and maintained in the event of internal reviews or external legal proceedings and/or governance requirements.

Integration with SIEM software provides another layer of security, with active monitoring and instant notifications and alerts. Admins can respond to notifications of shared data with banking customers to prevent unauthorized access or data leak.

One of FileCloud’s major strengths revolves around data leak protection (DLP). With customizable metadata sets, a smart content classification engine, and seamless DLP, the system can effectively automate file sorting and application of security protocols and policies. Upon upload, the content classification engine scans files for information that aligns with metadata tags (e.g., PII, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.). If a file is found to contain this information, the file is tagged with the appropriate metadata class.

When DLP is enabled, this metadata tag will trigger relevant policies for retention and share permissions. Thanks to FileCloud’s hierarchical permissions system, information is protected at the most stringent of levels. With metadata templates and custom metadata options, FileCloud can support organizations requiring distinct classifications. (The aforementioned banking client runs over 200 classifications as part of their DLP system.) 

Collectively, these powerful features help companies and organizations comply with global and federal regulations and guidelines.

Zero Trust Folders

To maintain the utmost security, cloud storage providers use “Zero Trust Folders.” This feature is currently being developed for FileCloud Release 21.3. In a system with Zero Trust Folders, if anyone logs in with a compromised account, they may be able to see folders, but the folder information and all the data within is encrypted. To access information or files, the unauthorized user would also need to know the encryption key or password. With FileCloud, this key would not be stored within the platform cache, providing an extra layer of security.

 

Accessibility

Customers and employees of global banks (like the one served by FileCloud) need to be able to access bank systems from anywhere in the world. To operate efficiently, the bank also needs to be able to share information with external customers and vendors.

FileCloud delivers this secure access seamlessly. The banking client deploys over 15 servers to best support their global network, which includes more than 20,000 employees and over 13 million banking customers.

One specific way FileCloud meets the extensive needs of this banking organization is through multi-tenancy. Each bank under the organization’s umbrella has its own brand identity and network. Multi-tenancy with FileCloud ensures that all the banks have their own data boundaries without requiring multiple FileCloud instances. The banking client is also able to reduce overhead costs and cut back on access abstraction, which provides more opportunities to invest in customer service and innovation.

Flexibility

FileCloud is eminently flexible, thanks to the user interface and the plethora of integrations with legacy IT infrastructure and third-party applications. The banking client specifically needed to be able to integrate their Authentication Directory into their portal, with support for Single Sign-On (SSO).

For the BFSI sector, FileCloud’s ability to work with older systems, modernizing them and providing top-of-the-line security, is a major strength. Banks invested early in IT systems to help streamline processes and security. The drawback of being an early adopter is that these systems have since become outdated and vulnerable. With FileCloud’s flexible integrations though, banking clients need not invest in a massive upheaval to gain security and access features that are absolutely vital for a modern, global organization.

Regarding third-party integrations, FileCloud works with other recognized software providers to ensure banking clients have the tools they are familiar with and rely on. One such example is Compass Plus, a payments software established in 1989 that continues to develop revolutionary and future-proof solutions.

Branding and Customization

Building a branded identity is essential for BFSI organizations to build consumer trust, reach potential customers by extending their brand in the market, and establish their reputation for select services. Branded platforms also help protect customers by providing clearly marked digital boundaries around the banking platform.

FileCloud provides full support for branding customization. FileCloud Server can be run under a custom domain, user and admin portals can be updated with the bank’s logo. Fonts and theme colors can even be adjusted to follow branding guidelines. Furthermore, banking clients can insert their own language for user communications such as terms of service and activity notifications. Multi-tenancy also plays a role here, enabling the banking client to run multiple, branded tenants from the same instance.

Workflow Automation

One of FileCloud’s newest features (released in 21.2) is Workflow Automation. This powerful feature empowers users to automate tasks associated with file activities, relieving employees of tedious yet critical processes that are part of the bank’s smooth operations. For example, FileCloud’s Workflow Automation can control file shares by automating the approval chain.

  1. User Shares a File
  2. Manager Reviews Share and Approves
  3. Shared File Becomes Available to Recipient.

Workflow Automation supports both efficiency and security for banking clients by reducing the opportunity for human error and time spent on routine tasks. Users can easily see and respond to workflow events within the notification tab. They can also review a history of their workflow actions in the new “Actions” tab in the left sidebar and even make their own workflows thanks to FileCloud’s no-code, drag-and-drop workflow builder.

Admins have even greater scope, with the ability to examine workflows in the dashboard and make changes to improve efficiency or update involved files, folders, or user information.

Conclusion

This major banking client chose FileCloud not only for the strength of its security or the sophistication of its features, but also for its flexible integration options, accessible UI, and award-winning customer support team. FileCloud is an innovative platform designed to solve real-world problems.

By constantly examining how it can mitigate inefficiencies across file storage and sharing systems and respond to emerging trends and threats, FileCloud provides a robust ROI. BFSI clients that partner with FileCloud have the infrastructure support they need to navigate a rapidly changing digital market and meet the needs of banking customers all over the world.

Compliance Center Comparison – FileCloud vs. Microsoft 365

Compliance with government regulations is a critical element for businesses and organizations. These regulations aim to ensure operational integrity, safety, and ethical behavior, and have become wider-reaching thanks to technological advancements that have connected industries all around the world.

Many regulations specifically address security and privacy concerns related to the sharing of information, which extends to digital data shared over networks. High-profile regulations include:

  • European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), affecting data privacy of EU citizens
  • U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), protecting patient-information rights and privacy
  • Sarbanes-Oxley or the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act, mandating accurate and reliable corporate disclosures for financial records
  • and the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which controls the manufacture, sale, and distribution of defense and space-related articles and services as defined in the United States Munitions List (USML).

These are only a few well-known regulations among many. For a company or organization to function properly, understanding relevant regulatory requirements is critical. These regulations protect individuals, companies, and governments from malpractice or malfeasance and help prevent injury and loss on small and large scales.

Failing to comply with regulations can lead to strict and significant financial penalties. For example, Google paid out nearly $43 million to resolve a GDPR case levied against them by France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL). Similarly, Airbus had to pay nearly $4 billion and Honeywell paid $13 million to resolve their respective ITAR compliance issues.

On the other hand, the complexity of the regulatory landscape makes it difficult for companies to implement solutions that address requirements. The solutions available (or developed in response) can incur heavy costs in time and resources.

In recognition of the struggles and challenges that come with compliance, software and technology companies are developing intuitive platforms and tools to provide additional support and clarity. The overall impact could lead to cost-savings of millions of dollars on penalty fees and restitution payouts.

These solutions are designed to support compliance and business managers as well as IT administrators meet regulatory requirements across an organization’s information storage and sharing activities, thereby promoting improved cybersecurity.

In this article, we will provide a functional overview of two solutions: FileCloud Compliance Center and Microsoft 365 Compliance Center.

 

FileCloud’s Compliance Center

FileCloud Compliance Center Dashboard view, with recent activity and issues summary

What is the FileCloud Compliance Center?

FileCloud’s Compliance Center is a new feature launched with the 21.2 release. This tool is designed to leverage the full strength of FileCloud’s existing comprehensive security and sharing features, such as smart classification, custom metadata, and data leak protection.

For example, metadata tags can be created for defense articles and technical data, which are then applied to documents using Smart Classification. DLP rules connected with the Classification Engine ensures that no files with this metadata can be publicly shared. These features are already available with FileCloud, but the Compliance Center organizes these features into special compliance configurations that apply sets of FileCloud features with the simple click of a button.

Currently, the Compliance Center includes a specific configuration for ITAR compliance, with other standards under development. FileCloud’s ITAR configuration connects admins with SSL, encryption, and audit settings to provide multi-tiered security protections. Informational rules like “Confirm all users are US residents” provide useful prompts for system admins to confirm regulatory requirements are met.

The FileCloud Compliance Center is particularly beneficial for IT administrators, as it provides an accessible platform for admins to learn about and implement ITAR requirements. It also enables easy reporting to upper management, CIOs/CTOs, and external parties, which saves the organization time and money.

View of the ITAR tab within the FileCloud Compliance Center

How does the FileCloud Compliance Center Work?

The Compliance Center is offered as an additional feature with an Enterprise FileCloud license for users and admins. Once set up, users will be able to view the Compliance dashboard like any other feature in FileCloud, by selecting the Compliance Center tab on the left sidebar.

Once inside the dashboard, users will be able to gain quick and vital information at a glance. Configurations have a status bar that shows how many FileCloud compliance rules are included in the set, how many are enabled, and how many are bypassed.

FileCloud includes the bypass option specifically so users and admins can examine compliance rules and only apply the ones that meet their needs. For organizations that meet regulatory requirements outside of the FileCloud environment, this flexibility ensures status reports are accurate and include only the necessary information.

FileCloud Compliance Center ITAR Tab view with dialog box for bypassing a rule

How can the FileCloud Compliance Center help meet regulatory requirements?

The FileCloud ITAR configuration is a repository for a wealth of information and support. Simply click on the tab at the top of the Compliance Center page to view more information about the rules, the FileCloud features connected with each rule, the status for each rule (compliant, failed, or bypassed), and select actions. These actions include an option to edit the rule (by adding custom metadata for example) or to view additional information through the info icon.

View of ITAR tab in Compliance Center, dialog box with information to update a rule

Configurations in FileCloud are designed to take into consideration the context of the regulatory landscape. In this manner, FileCloud provides vital support to compliance and business managers by connecting compliance requirements directly with powerful FileCloud features, along with explanations for how the feature meets the requirement and where users and admins can find more information on the requirements.

Furthermore, the configurations are designed to act immediately and keep a running track record of all the activity connected with compliance efforts within the FileCloud ecosystem. Admins receive regular email notifications on a 24-hour cycle specifically for any non-compliant rules in place. Admins can adjust their email notification settings in accord with their needs, but the system will continue to scan and update the Compliance Center every 24 hours.

Additionally, all information captured by the Compliance Center is recorded and updated in the dashboard. These activity logs can be archived and exported into non-changeable files for governance and retention purposes.

Pricing

FileCloud offers a strong ROI since the Compliance Center can be bundled with a FileCloud Enterprise license, already a high-value product. Clients can opt for a self-hosted Enterprise package (minimum of 50 users, contact for quote) or for FileCloud Online, hosted by CodeLathe (minimum of 5 users, $15/month/user).

There is no extra cost to add the Compliance Center to your Enterprise license, which provides competitive pricing and a sophisticated, feature-rich platform for secure enterprise file storage and sharing.

 

Microsoft 365 Compliance Center

Microsoft Compliance Center User Home Page, with left sidebar menu describing different cards within the platform.

What is the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center?

Microsoft 365 rolled out their own version of a Compliance Center in 2018, with several updates since. The tool started as a way to organize security and compliance features across Office 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security, and Windows in a centralized platform. This platform supports admins in efforts to detect, classify, protect, and report on data and related activity.

In 2019, the platform was updated to reorganize features and applications that comprise Microsoft Threat Protection, as well as Microsoft Cloud App Security (MCAS). By consolidating the user experiences across Microsoft 365 applications, they created a consistent approach organized around specific concepts: Identity, Endpoints, User Data, Cloud App and Infrastructure.

The most recent iteration of the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center focuses on ease-of-use and compliance features by optimizing eDiscovery, endpoint DLP, audit logs, sensitivity labels, data classification and connectors, records management, insider risk management, and encryption.

How does the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center work?

The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center makes use of a “card” platform to present different aspects of security and compliance to users. The Compliance Manager is one card that acts as a sort of dashboard, calculating a risk score in a percentage and measuring progress toward recommended actions. The Compliance Manager also includes workflow capabilities and built-in control mapping that can help users respond to different compliance objectives, including:

  • Protect information
  • Govern information
  • Control access
  • Manage devices
  • Protect against threats
  • Discover and respond
  • Manage internal risks

Beyond the Compliance Manager, there are also cards for the Solution Catalog and Active Alerts. Users have the option of adding cards to the menu according to their needs and as Microsoft continues to expand the Compliance Center.

Microsoft Solution Catalog, linking users with Microsoft compliance features

The Solutions catalog card provides a resource for users to learn and implement solutions that are available within their specific institution and within their Microsoft subscription. These solutions are organized by section; the card itself is designed to serve as a quick-start guide for new users beginning to implement compliance and risk management solutions. Sections include:

  • Information Protection & Governance
    • Data Loss Prevention
    • Information Governance
    • Information Protection
    • Records Management
  • Privacy
    • Privacy Management
  • Insider Risk Management
    • Communication Compliance
    • Insider Risk Management
  • Discovery & Response
    • Audit
    • Data subject requests
    • eDiscovery

Each section and sub-section provides the user with a brief description of what the solution offers and how it can support compliance objectives. However, the user must know exactly which solutions are required to fulfill specific regulatory requirements.

The Navigation pane in the left sidebar menu provides direct access back to the Compliance Manager card, the Solutions catalog card, the Home screen, Settings, and Resources. This setup can be customized to suit user preferences and add tabs for common areas, depending on what options are available with the organization’s Microsoft subscription. Additional navigation options include Data Classification, Data Connectors, Alerts, Reports, Policies, and Permissions.

Navigation menu for Microsoft's Compliance Center, close-up view of left sidebar menu

How can the Microsoft 365 Compliance Center help meet regulatory requirements?

Microsoft 365 Compliance Center officially states they can support a wide variety of industry and government regulations (as does FileCloud). However, Microsoft does not offer specialized configurations built for each regulation.

Instead, Microsoft relies on the Compliance Manager, which helps users set up data security, classification, and share settings. The Compliance Manager can take inventory of data protection risks, provide managerial support to implement controls, inform users of regulatory updates and refresh certificates, and report directly to auditors.

The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center provides many of the same tools and features offered by FileCloud, but they are not organized into bundled settings or configurations like FileCloud’s solution for ITAR (and other regulations in the near future).

Setting up the Compliance Center in Microsoft 365 reflects that key difference in strategic approach between Microsoft and FileCloud. Compliance, data security, or IT admins are tasked with configuring risk management and communication policies, reviewing their organization’s DLP settings, enabling appropriate settings in Microsoft, and setting up information protection through Microsoft Cloud App Security.

Pricing

Microsoft 365 provides users with a large-scale suite of applications, which may include their Compliance Center. However, these plans may also provide users with more tools or platforms than they necessarily need, and the price point is also much higher. A Microsoft 365 enterprise plan that includes the Compliance Center can cost upwards of $32/month/user[4]. For an annual plan with 100 users, that adds up to $38,400.

Conclusion

FileCloud and Microsoft 365 both present powerful and innovative platforms that address the growing need for compliance support across industries. However, the two solutions diverge in their approach and ease of use.

Microsoft has a certain advantage when considering the Compliance Center as an app alongside the suite of apps that come with a subscription. If an organization is already paying for Microsoft 365, the Compliance Center may be a worthwhile add-on. This may be especially true for organizations that have a compliance officer or team that can work through the various cards and sections to implement Microsoft’s solutions.

FileCloud presents a much more accessible solution with their Compliance Center. By focusing on the regulations directly, FileCloud is able to provide unique configurations of FileCloud features, tools, and settings that cumulatively address compliance requirements.

Furthermore, these sophisticated configurations empower users by connecting compliance rules with specific FileCloud settings that can be easily viewed and distinguished within the configuration tab. The Action column provides users with easy access to customize rules and view compliance documentation for further education.

ITAR is currently the only available configuration available in the FileCloud Compliance Center. Additional configurations will become available as updates are made to the Compliance Center.

Considering the significant challenges of regulation across industries and governments, any tool must provide clear support to users and facilitates fulfilling compliance requirements. FileCloud’s innovative solution is one that stands to grow and change with the landscape while providing meaningful clarity and support.

Classify Documents in FileCloud using Smart Classification

This is the last post in the series “Smart Classification, Metadata and Smart DLP – the powerful combo” about data classification and security in FileCloud.

In previous posts, we explained the concepts and capabilities of FileCloud’s Metadata and Data Leak Prevention Subsystems. Metadata allows users to describe data available in their system by assigning an extensive set of information to them. DLP, on the other hand, allows action prevention based on the assigned metadata. In the real-life, enterprise-level scenario, the above process is very common; the problem starts when the volume and complexity of data increases and the job of assigning metadata manually is no longer achievable. This is where Smart Classification becomes essential.

Smart Classification

Smart Classification is a powerful and flexible subsystem that allows organizations to define custom rules. Documents in FileCloud can be classified and metadata attributes applied based on that classification. This process is automated, and each newly uploaded file is checked against all available, active rules. The content of that file is evaluated against the provided set of rules and the corresponding metadata is applied based on the result of that evaluation.

Smart classification is also referred to as the Content Classification Engine (CCE); both names will be used interchangeably in this article. CCE automates, streamlines, and strengthens the overall level of data leak prevention for an organization. Administrators and users can upload files and folders with the knowledge that uploaded information will be automatically classified according to the content; this helps ensure that sensitive data is immediately covered by the criteria outlined in the DLP plan. CCE rules are also applied retroactively to data that was uploaded before the rules were created, helping organizations protect legacy data.

Conceptually, this is a very simple process, yet a lot happens behind the scenes. Let’s dive deeper into the current possibilities in FileCloud, version 20.3.

When an admin visits the Smart Classification screen, they will see a detailed list of all defined CCE rules.

The CCE rule definition is flexible, allowing admins to shape the use case to their individual needs by specifying classifiers, event triggers, preconditions, conditions and match/no match actions.

Event triggers

Specifies the event, upon which, the rule should be automatically executed. The FILEINDEXED event, occurring when a document is successfully indexed in SOLR, is the most common across use cases. In FileCloud version 20.3, only ICAP DLP classification uses different triggers, taking place at file upload rather than SOLR indexing.

Auto-classification

Specifies whether an uploaded file should be automatically classified or not. If auto-classification is disabled, admins can always run a ‘catch-up’ classification on-demand from the admin panel.

Definition

This is the heart of each CCE rule, specifying all details regarding when classification should happen, which classifier should be used, what condition is treated as a match and which metadata values should be set depending on the rule evaluation result.

Rule Definition

Each definition contains the following sections:

Classifier

Specifies which classifier is used to classify the file content. Currently, the following classifications are supported:

  • Default – classifies content into terms that match the supplied regex patterns. Supported parameters: SEARCH_PATTERN_SET, SEARCH_PATTERN_NAME or SEARCH_PATTERN_GROUP

Result Schema (_classifications): [{term: “term that matched a regex”, count: “number of times the term appears in the doc”}, …] – specifies how many times each term has been matched.

  • PatternMatch – classifies content into regex patterns found. Supported parameters: SEARCH_PATTERN_SET, SEARCH_PATTERN_NAME or SEARCH_PATTERN_GROUP

Result Schema (_classifications): [“regex pattern”, …] – specifies which patterns has been matched at least once.

  • StandardQuery – classify content as matching the query or not.

Pre-condition

Specifies rules that must be met by a file before it is evaluated through the classifier. Some sample pre-conditions:

  • Classify only .txt files uploaded to team folders

“precondition”:”starts_with(_file.fullPath, ‘/teamfolders/’) && _file.ext==’txt'”

  • Classify files less than 1000 bytes

“precondition”: “_file.size < 1000”

  • Classify files with one of the specified extensions

“precondition”: “_file.ext in [‘txt’, ‘pdf’, ‘csv’]”

  • Classify all files

“precondition”: “true”,

Condition

criteria to take a match or default action on the files. Currently, it must be count(_classifications) > 0 that indicates the file contains the search pattern.

  • SEARCH_PATTERN_SET – Any valid regular expression, i.e. /[0-9]{9}/
  • SEARCH_PATTERN_NAME – Regular expression defined in the Manage Pattern Group – Available Patterns
  • SEARCH_PATTERN_GROUP – Regular expression defined in Manage Pattern Group – Pattern Group

Match Action

Actions taken when classifier finds a file based on precondition, condition and parameters. For example, assign metadata set PII and attribute Confidential to true.

Default Action

Actions taken when the classifier finds a file based on a precondition but the condition, based on parameters, is not met. For example assign metadata set PII and metadata attribute Confidential to false.

CCE Limitations

Before jumping into our real-life example, there are some important limitations to note regarding CCE within FileCloud.

  • CCE will only function properly if SOLR has been configured and storage has been indexed. Additionally, administrators must have created at least one set of metadata for the classification process to operate.
  • Since rules that apply to the same metadata attribute often result in unexpected classification (the order of rule execution is not guaranteed), each rule should have a unique metadata attribute.
  • To prevent overwriting metadata intentionally added by users, CCE does not overwrite metadata it didn’t add itself. Users must remove manually added metadata set values to allow CCE to add its own metadata.
  • CCE updates classification if a file no longer meets the condition of a rule after it is updated and re-uploaded. For example, if a file with a credit card number that is classified as PII is re-uploaded without the credit card number, the PII classification is removed.
  • Empty files cannot be indexed and classified.
  • The default maximum size for indexed files is 10MB; therefore, by default, files larger than 10MB are not classifiable by CCE and are not available for content search.
  • As of FileCloud Version 20.3, if you have OCR enabled, CCE scans image and PDF files for matching patterns.

Real-Life Example: Social Security Numbers

Let’s display the capabilities of the CCE system by running a real-life sample and classifying documents based on the occurrence of the U.S Social Security Number. We’ll limit ourselves to files that are smaller than 1MB, but to display the full potential of Smart Classification, let’s classify documents in the following way:

  • If the file has at least two unique SSN number, set the value of the PII.High attribute to “true”
  • If the file has at least one unique SSN number, set the value of the PII.Level attribute to “Confidential”.

The following rules describe the above scenarios:

Rule 1 – set PII.High attribute for more than one SSN. Otherwise it will be set to false, which is a default metadata attribute value.

Rule 2 – set PII.Level to “Confidential” if there is at least one SSN number defined in the document.

For the purpose of the demo, three files are being used:

  • No SSNs.txt – with no SSN number specified
  • Single SSN – multiple occurrences – with a single SSN number provided multiple times
  • Multiple SSNs – multiple unique SSNs are specified

The following classifications are observed:

No SSN – the Level field is set to “-“, based on the default action in the second rule, and PII.High is left intact.

Single SSN – the Level field is set to “Confidential” based on Rule 2’s match action. Since there is only one unique SSN defined, PII.High is not set.

Multiple SSNs – the Level field is set to “Confidential” and the PII.High is set to “true”, since there are more than two unique SSN rules defined in that file.

As shown above, the classification gave the expected results for all three files. Now, let’s combine it with the following DLP rules:

  1. Block any downloads when PII.High is set to true
  2. Allow downloads but raise a violation when the PII.Level is set to “Confidential”.

The following behaviors are observed for the file that contains multiple SSNs:

 

The violation for the Single SSN is logged:

The above example displays the power behind the CCE-Metadata-DLP combination. This powerful functionality can operate in the “fire-and-forget” mode, meaning that once metadata and attributes are set, the defined CCE and DLP rules will work automatically, in the background, ensuring sensitive data are protected for the organization.

Article written by Tomasz Formański

Using “Folder Permissions” in Team Folders

When companies migrate from local file servers to the cloud (for example, moving from Windows File Servers to FileCloud Online Storage), many system administrators worry about losing established NTFS Permissions.

FileCloud’s Team Folders has a built-in functionality designed to preserve these permissions called “Folder Permissions”. This functionality allows the administrator to specify custom permissions inside Team Folders for each file.

To explain, let’s use an example: a company has a Team Folder called “Customers”. Inside this main folder, it has one folder per customer, with the following structure:

In the “Customers” folder, the company wants to grant these permissions:

  • Sales Team Manager will have access to the “Customers” folder, with all file operations (view, download, upload, share, and delete).
  • Sales Team will have access to the “Customers” folder, with all file operations (view, download, upload, share, and delete), apart from subfolder “Customer 05”.
    • In this folder, the Sales Team should not have access to any file operations (view, download, upload, share, or delete), as the Sales Manager wants this information to be kept private.

To accomplish this, the administrator can do the following:
1. Share the Customers’ Team Folder with the Sales Team.
2. Edit the “Folder Permissions” in the “Customer 05” subfolder to disable all operations from the team, except for the manager.

1. Share Customers’ Team Folder with the Sales Team

From the admin portal, in the Team Folders section, select the “Customers” Team Folder. Then click “Manage” to share it with the Sales Team.

 

 

2. Edit Folder Permissions for “Customer 05”

In the Team Folder section, select the “Customer 05” folder and click on “Permissions”.

When you open the Permissions section, add the “Sales” group; by default, it will grant all the file operation permissions.

 

To block these operations, click on every green checkbox from right to left; they will turn into an “x”. This change blocks all operations to the Sales Team. To allow the team manager “John Doe” to perform all operations, add the correct User in the Folder Permissions section and grant all access to “John Doe”.

 

Close the Folder Permission window. All permissions are saved. Now, whenever a team member (not the manager) accesses the “Customers” Team Folder, they will not see the sub-folder “Customer 05”.

If the Sales Team manager goes to the “Customers” Team Folder, he will see all folders, including “Customer 05”.

For this example, we hid the folder from the rest of the team, but we can also set special permissions; for example, we can allow read access only, with all other operations blocked.

More information on managing team folder permissions can be found in the FileCloud documentation “Set Granular Permissions on Team Folders.” If you have any questions about Folder Permissions or any other FileCloud functionalities, please reach out to CodeLathe Support.

Article written by Daniel Alarcon

 

Enable Global Backup With FileCloud

You have stored sensitive data like your photos, documents, etc on your PC or laptop?  It’s very important to consider a global backup as often as possible. In short and simple terms, global backup is very important as stores a copy of your data in a different location other than your device. Backing up your data regularly can retrieve data in case of data loss or theft. In this digitalized world, data is a critical asset to any organization and they invest a huge amount to have a proper data protection plan & disaster recovery plan.

You can enable Global Backup for a user by modifying the profile to which the user belongs. This impacts all users who belong to that profile. Alternatively, you can move the user to a profile for which you enabled System, App Settings backup.​

Global backup of data is a crucial activity that every user of any device that holds data should be doing. Whether it’s a laptop, desktop, tablet, or even smartphone, you should be backing up your data in case of:

  • The device is destroyed.
  • The device is lost or stolen.
  • The storage device in the device (hard drive or flash memory) is corrupted or damaged.
  • A malware attack including a ransomware attack where data is encrypted by criminals.
  • Accidental deletion of the data.
  • Corruption of the data.

The global Backup Market is projected to reach $190.5 billion by 2024. The major factors encouraging the development of the global backup market are the creation is growing numbers of data and the growing implementation of Software as a Service [SaaS].

Benefits of Global Backup

Even the most reliable devices can break. Not to mention, human errors like accidentally deleting an important file yourself. Also, thefts and fires can’t be eliminated. The main purpose of backing up your data is, of course, the ability to roll back and access your archives in the event of local hardware failure. To run a business today, you need to have the confidence that in the case of vulnerability, your data will be protected and accessible. Here are some advantages of having a global backup

  1. Fast Access to Files
  2.  Safeguard against Power Failure
  3.  Added Antivirus Protection
  4. Protection against Failed Hard Drive – The user can restore the system and application settings from the failed device to the new device.
  5. Recovery – You can quickly recover your system settings in the event of a failure.

 

Configure Sync to Globally Backup Files and Folders

A FileCloud admin user can configure FileCloud Sync to set up a Global Backup for the users of their FileCloud System. This allows the Admin to specify local paths on the user’s computer that contains user-specific configurations to be included in the Sync Backup through default device configurations created in policies from the Admin Portal.

 

  1. Enable Endpoint Backup for FileCloud Sync from the Admin Portal.
Endpoint Backup
Endpoint Backup

2.  Install FileCloud Sync and enable Remote Management

Sync Remote Management Setting
Sync Remote Management Setting
Sync Remote Management Login
Sync Remote Management Login

3. In the policy used by Sync users, set a default device configuration for FileCloud Sync

Sync Edit Policy
Sync Edit Policy
Sync Global Default Policy
Sync Global Default Policy

A Global Backup is a feature that ensures backup of system and application settings across user devices. With Global Backup, administrators can restore what they need anytime, anywhere. Users no longer need to remember or reconfigure their system preferences.

Note :

  • Endpoint Backup must be enabled for FileCloud Sync from the Admin Portal.
  • FileCloud Sync must be installed on the users’ computers and Remote Management must be enabled.
  • The Sync users’ policy in the Admin portal must include this custom device configuration for Sync.

References

https://www.millioninsights.com/

https://www.filecloud.com/supportdocs/display/cloud/Globally+Backing+Up+User+Files+and+Folders

How to Best Utilize FileCloud’s Metadata

Metadata, DLP and Search

 

 

Info: This is the first post in the series “Smart Classification, Metadata, and Smart DLP – the powerful combo” about data classification and security in FileCloud

The current world is all about data. Data mining, data science, AI, everything revolves around gathering data, processing data, and analyzing it. The same applies to modern businesses, where employees need to make informed decisions based on facts and hard statistics rather than assumptions and intuition. However, in 2021, data stored in files is not enough. And this is where metadata comes into the picture.

“Metadata – data that provides information about other data”

Although this definition is rather vague it explains the concept pretty well – we have to attach data to our datasets. Everything that provides valid information about a given file can be treated as metadata. Common file properties like size, creation date, owner, and extension provide basic information that can be used in querying, quickly understanding what can be expected (for example, one knows that a .png will contain an image), and performing many more daily operations.

Having that in mind FileCloud provides a submodule that allows our customers to attach metadata to files and folders that exist in the system. To make it easy and robust we’ve provided a highly configurable environment organized in a 2-level deep structure, containing metadata sets that group individual metadata attributes.

Metadata sets

One can think about metadata sets as groups of related metadata fields  or attributes. Administrators manage permissions for the whole set as well as enabling/disabling its visibility. Currently, FileCloud provides three types of metadata sets:

  1. Default metadata set

This predefined metadata set is shipped with each FileCloud installation and is automatically attached to every file and folder added to the system. By default, it provides a single metadata attribute, called ‘Tags’ that is intended to allow easy classification of files and folders. Administrators can set permissions for the Default set, edit attributes and provide a custom name and description if needed.

  1. Custom metadata sets

Custom metadata sets are fully configurable by administrators. FileCloud allows full control over the list of defined attributes and permissions assigned. Custom metadata sets can be added to files/folders manually by users (this action requires write permission for the given metadata set) or can be used by the Smart Classification subsystem, which will be the topic of another post in this series.

  1. Built-in metadata sets

The built-in metadata sets are predefined by FileCloud and are mostly intended to perform automatic assignment and metadata extraction.. Administrators can only control the visibility (read permission) of those metadata sets. The only exception is the new color tagging metadata set that allows admins to edit a list of available colors.

Automatic extraction is a very powerful concept that enables FileCloud to extract, parse and store metadata directly from the supported file types, for example, exif metadata for images, embedded properties of Office files, etc.

Metadata attributes

Attributes are the smallest building blocks of FileCloud’s metadata subsystem. They are responsible for storing single pieces of information. As of version 20.3, FileCloud comes with the following types of attributes:

  • Text – a simple textual value. (Name)
  • Integer – an integer number. (Age)
  • Decimal – a floating-point value. (Distance in miles, price)
  • Boolean – a true/false value. (Verified, Confidential)
  • Date – a date. (Release Date)
  • Enumeration – a list of predefined values; the user can select one value from the list. (Sex)
  • Array – a type that allows the user to apply multiple values to the given attribute. (Tags list)

Each attribute provides options to mark it as required, disable it, and provide it with a default value

That’s enough theory – now let’s jump into the system to see metadata in action in a basic use case. We’ve created a new Custom set that will allow users to provide information about their music album collections. Below is the definition visible in the Admin Panel

We’ve added various attributes to provide information about the album: Title, Band, Year, Genre, Rating, etc. We’ve assigned read permission for the Audiophiles group and write permission for the user named John Doe. With that in mind, we can jump into action.

The user John Doe has uploaded a shortlist of his favorite music albums to a dedicated team folder location. Now, for each album, he can navigate to the Metadata tab available in the right-side panel and add the Music albums metadata set to that album. Once this is done he can provide all required metadata attribute values. He is able to do that since he was granted write permission to that metadata set.

 

This is how the metadata form looks in more detail. It is a dynamically constructed component that includes the set of attributes provided in the definition.

Other users from the group can log in to FileCloud in order to view metadata provided by John Doe. They see a read-only view since they were granted read permission only, but with write permission they could override data provided by John Doe, which would enable full collaboration.

Now, we can dive into the core of this post – what can we do with the metadata now?

Search

FileCloud allows users to search for metadata. This is an extremely powerful feature. Imagine that users agreed to recommend an album to listen to next with a ‘listen to’ tag. Here are the search results for that use case:

Now, let’s say that we want to search for all albums from the Grunge genre. Below we can see the results.

And to go even deeper, let’s refine the search and look only for the unplugged albums for that genre.

This becomes extremely useful in cases where your data is scattered across many files or many departments, for example, a project that has marketing files, demos, presentations, research data, etc. Metadata allows organizations to apply horizontal data organization, without the need to store data in a dedicated, per project, directory structure. This is useful in many daily applications.

DLP integration

FileCloud’s Data Leak Prevention subsystem is the topic of another blog post in this series. This is only a sneak peek at its capabilities. Imagine that for some reason Audiophiles don’t want to “leak” albums with ratings less than 5 stars from the system by disabling an option to share those items. This can be easily achieved by adding a dedicated DLP rule. Below is the outcome – the “Unknown Pleasures” album (which is still amazing, to be clear) cannot be shared since it doesn’t have a rating of 5 stars.

On the other hand, the same rule allows us to share Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album since it was rated with 5 stars.

 

The above examples show, with a rather simplified use case, how to use metadata in FileCloud in an efficient manner. The problem with that approach is that all metadata has to be applied manually to the files prior to the system being able to use them. Since this might be a blocker for bigger organizations, FileCloud provides options to automate the process of metadata extraction for some common file types like Office documents and images by shipping two built-in metadata sets: Image metadata and Microsoft Office Tag metadata

Below is an example of image metadata extraction for a sample image

Another example is the .docx properties extraction from the draft of this blog post.

It is clear that we can use built-in metadata extraction to search for all documents in a given category, with a given set of predefined attributes (for example, image size)  and this is only the tip of the iceberg since metadata attribute values can be set by the very powerful Smart Classification system based on the content of the file! But that is a topic for another post

FileCloud Aurora – All About Single-Click Actions

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FileCloud Aurora Single Click Actions

Introduction

In November 2020, FileCloud released update 20.2 – a complete rehaul of our Sync, Mobile and browser UI and functionalities. We at FileCloud have been working on this for a very, very long time, and so we’re incredibly proud to present to you: FileCloud Aurora.

Today, we’re going to be covering one of the most important functionality additions to our new UI: Single-Click Actions.

For a comprehensive overview of all of FileCloud Aurora’s new features, please visit our previous blog post Introducing FileCloud Aurora! Brand New UI and DRM Capabilities!.

What Are Single-Click Actions?

We’re all about helping you and your team save time. FileCloud Aurora brings workflow efficiency to the next level with tons of quality of life updates that help you work fast. One of these is the introduction of single-click, or quick, actions.

What does this mean? Well, you might have noticed that when you hover over any file or folder in your library, a toolbar appears on the item. It might look something like this:

Single-Click Actions

These icons represent all of the most commonly-used actions that you could ever need to take with your files. Hover over each icon to see what they do, or read on for a more in-depth explanation for each one.

List of Single-Click Actions

Preview

Preview

The first icon, which looks like an eye, is the Preview action. It lets you preview your files, folders and documents. As FileCloud Aurora integrates fully with Microsoft Office and many other file extensions, you’ll be able to open and preview all of your files without actually needing to download them.

Download

Download

The second icon, which looks like a downwards-pointing arrow is the Download action. It lets you download whichever file, folder or document you’re hovering over in one simple, quick click.

Edit

Web Edit

Open in Office Online

The third icon, which looks like a pencil, is the Edit action. Depending on your file type, you may be able to edit it directly in the browser or open the file in Office Online. Some files, of course, cannot be edited, such as video or audio files.

You may have noticed that at the end of each hover description, there are different keys in square brackets – for instance, [Enter] for the Preview icon. These are keyboard shortcuts, and are covered in our All About Keyboard Shortcuts blog post!

Share

Share Icon

The fourth icon, which looks like three dots connected to each other, is the Share action. Clicking it will open the following window:

Share Link

You’ll be able to copy the share link of your file, change sharing options, and remove the share from there on.

Direct Link

Direct Link Icon

Next up is Direct Link, which looks like a hyperlink icon. This opens up the following window:

Direct Link

-Where you can copy a direct link to your file, maximizing efficiency when sharing files with your team.

Copy

Copy Icon

This is the Copy quick-action, which looks like two squares overlapped over each other. Clicking this will open a window where you can select where to make a copy of the file.

Move

Move

This is the Move quick-action, which looks like an arrow. Clicking this will open a window where you can select where to move the file to.

Delete

Delete

Next up is the Delete quick action, which looks like a trash can. This is pretty self-explanatory — clicking this will delete the file in question.

Lock

Lock Icon

Last but certainly not least is the Lock option, which looks like a, well, lock icon. This opens up the following window:

Lock Selected File Screen Preview

That lets you lock a file to indicate that you’re working on it. That way, your team won’t be able to modify the file and override your changes, or vice versa.

Conclusion

Gone are the days of tedious right-clicking and dragging stuff around. Need to copy or download something? Just hit the corresponding button! Need to move something to another folder? Before you start dragging it all over your screen, just hit the single-click action for it and a window will open for you to choose your destination folder.

It might seem like a subtle change, but when your team is shaving seconds off every file action, it all adds up to save you and your team tons of time. Thanks for tuning in, and we hope that you’re enjoying our FileCloud 20.2 Update: FileCloud Aurora!
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SharePoint Online Limits – The Infamous 5,000 File Limitation

This blog post was originally published on July 27, 2020 and updated on June 10, 2022. 

SharePoint vs FileCloud

This article talks about various SharePoint limitations and how they can be a challenge for enterprises using SharePoint. There are limits to how many files and folders you can view within team folders, limits on how many files and folders you can store, limits on the number of files you can sync, and much more. All such SharePoint limitations can force enterprises to look for alternatives.

SharePoint’s Infamous 5,000 Item Limit

A SharePoint list can hold up to 30 million items and a library can hold up to 30 million files and folders. However, the list view is limited to 5,000 items through the Large List Resource Throttling feature. Items include files and folders.

  • SharePoint Library is equivalent to FileCloud’s “Team Folders”
  • In SharePoint, you cannot view more than 5,000 items within a Library/Team Folder (unlike FileCloud, which has no limit).
  • Enterprises often easily exceed 5,000+ files, in which case SharePoint will not display all these files/ folders

sharepoint limitations

In practice, enterprises can easily exceed more than 5,000 files and folders within team folders, so the SharePoint item limit can become a significant issue. Microsoft does offer some support to work with this throttling feature.

  • For Server versions of SharePoint, network administrators can implement a Daily Time Window that removes the limits. In doing so, admins can run large queries and other data-intensive operations.
  • The administrator can also choose to raise the limit if appropriate, but this is not recommended by Microsoft because it can impact performance for users.

However, Microsoft also acknowledges the extent of limitations – there is an entire page dedicated to the different limitations and restrictions within SharePoint and OneDrive.

FileCloud doesn’t include such limitations, and you can display all files and folders in a single view.

SharePoint’s Sync Limits

  • You can sync only up to 2,500 items in a SharePoint library (Team Folders) at a time.
  • This limit includes folders as well as files in the SharePoint Library.
  • Microsoft recommends not syncing more than 300,000 files across all libraries.

In practice, enterprise team folders often easily exceed these limits. FileCloud, on the other hand, does not impose any limits within the sync client.

sharepoint limits
FileCloud Sync Client Benefits

  • No item/file/folder limits through FileCloud sync app
  • Use Selective Sync to sync only the files and folders you need, to save local disk space
  • Get offline access to network folders
  • Automatically schedule folder backups

SharePoint’s Complicated Guest User Experience

Share Files With Guest Users in SharePoint Using the Traditional Library

  1. Enable guest access and external sharing
  2. Enable Guest Access for Office 365 Groups
  3. Invite guest users to Office 365 groups
  4. Guest users now need to setup MS accounts

Only after so many steps, can guest users can access files.

Share Files with Guest Users in SharePoint Using the Modern Library

  • Confirm you have enabled the modern library
  • Right-click the folder or file you want to share and click “Share”
  • In the Link Settings dialog box, select “Specific People”
  • Type the email of the desired recipient(s) and click “Send”

Steps for Recipient to Complete to Gain Access to Shared Files/Folders:

  • Open the email notification and click the link of the shared file/folder
  • In the Request Verification Code dialog box, click “Send Code”
  • Open the new email and enter the code within 15 minutes. Click “Verify”

Additional Guest Users Complications within SharePoint

  • Most users have personal and corporate Microsoft accounts. This means they have to switch back and forth every time they have to access files as a guest user, making the process terribly tedious and user-unfriendly
  • Guests may have to set up multiple accounts or verify their identity for each shared link to access files
  • Overall, users have rated that they would prefer sharing files via email over setting up guest accounts.

Share Files with Guest Users in FileCloud

FileCloud makes it easy to share and collaborate on files with external users by inviting guest users in a single-step process

  • Invite guest user via email

That’s it. If a user does not already have a FileCloud account, a guest account will be created for them automatically when they access the shared file or folder. It doesn’t cost anything extra for the sender, since FileCloud provides unlimited, free guest accounts. For additional security, you can password protect the share as well.

For public shares, a FileCloud account is not required. You can enable anyone with a link to view the shared file or folder, you can set a password, and you can even set an expiration date or download limits!

SharePoint’s Permission Inheritance Issues

What is “Permission Inheritance”?

In SharePoint, child files and folders automatically inherit permission levels from their parent folder/site.

Breaking Permission Inheritance

To manage individual files/folders, users have to change permissions and break permission inheritance.

Permission Inheritance Limitation

If your SharePoint Library has over 100,000 items, you cannot break the permissions inheritance, nor can you re-inherit permissions. You can break inheritance on individual items within the library, list, folder, or file, though there is a maximum limit on unique permissions.

Long Processing Time

Database operations on library items can process limited items in one request. Operations that exceed the 2,500 item limit can significantly impact system performance and take a long time to process, restricting your ability to work with the machine or system until the sync is completed.

permission inheritance

In practice, enterprise file permissions can easily exceed the limits set by SharePoint, and having limits on setting permissions on important documents is not ideal. This is why FileCloud doesn’t set such limits on granular permissions for any file.

SharePoint vs FileCloud

As part of a head-to-head feature comparison, there are several instances where SharePoint falls short.

SharePoint Online (Premium) vs FileCloud Enterprise Online

  • SharePoint Online does not include Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC); FileCloud Enterprise Online does.
  • FileCloud Enterprise Online can integrate with Google Apps like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
  • SharePoint limits uploads to 250 GB and does not support large file sharing.
  • FileCloud Enterprise Online’s intuitive granular permissions offer flexibility when it comes to sharing parent and child folders.

Similar limitations can be seen if you compare SharePoint and FileCloud’s server plans. Even comparing against FileCloud’s standard server plan, SharePoint still comes up short.

SharePoint Server (Premium) vs FileCloud Enterprise Server

  • SharePoint Server storage is limited; once you reach the end of your quota, you must buy more; FileCloud Enterprise Server offers unlimited storage.
  • FileCloud integrations include Microsoft 365, Google Apps, WebDAV, and APIs for full control over your content.
  • SharePoint Server does not include access to High-Availability (HA) Architecture, which can impact latency, performance, and disaster recovery.
  • FileCloud Enterprise Server is compatible with Microsoft, Mac, and Linux operating systems; with SharePoint, there is no Linux support.

More SharePoint Limitations

SharePoint Library Item Limits

A maximum limit of 30 million items/ files and folders can be stored in SharePoint Library, which is easily exceeded by large enterprises,

Unique permissions for items

SharePoint’s recommended general item limit is 2,500, a very small amount that can easily be exceeded in practice, causing errors.

SharePoint file size limit

Maximum file size of 250 GB, which can again be easily exceeded in practice, especially by law, design, architecture, and construction firms.

Moving files in a single operation

The total file size must be no more than 100 GB, with no more than 30,000 files processed in a single operation. Each file must be less than 15 GB. Again, this can be very limiting for enterprises.

All these limitations can create serious challenges for enterprise teams in collaborating and can hamper productivity. FileCloud offers a superior Content Collaboration Platform (CCP) with no such limits, along with comprehensive features and security that provide robust ROI.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the limitations of SharePoint?

A library can contain up to 30 million files and folders. However, if it has more than 100,000 items, you are limited in the changes you can make to permissions. For file upload limits, SharePoint Online allows up to 250 GB per file and 250 MB for file attachments.

When should you not use SharePoint?

You should not use SharePoint if you require high levels of document organization or if you are looking for a tool you can quickly use with little training. SharePoint has issues of poor document visibility and navigation problems. Files are easily lost with more complex folder structures. Also, it is hard to learn for beginners.

Does SharePoint have a character limit?

The character limit for SharePoint Server is 400 characters for all file and path names. If you go over the limit, the system will give you an error message. One way to avoid this is to use a character counting tool. These are available for free online.

What is the storage limit for SharePoint Online?

SharePoint is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium plans. The storage limit is 1 TB, plus 10 GB per license. Microsoft recommends uploading fewer than 300,000 files for best performance. The total storage limit is 25 TB, with a user cap of 300.

What is the difference between OneDrive and SharePoint?

Compared to OneDrive, SharePoint goes beyond file storage and organization. OneDrive is simply a file management system, whereas SharePoint includes dashboards, CMS, and collaboration tools. These tools provide a more comprehensive content management experience.

How is SharePoint Online Storage calculated?

SharePoint Online calculates storage based on how many licenses you have, starting with 1 TB and an additional 10 GB per license. If you have a 100-license subscription, then you would have 2 TB of storage total: 1 TB plus 10 GB times 100 users.

How do I bulk upload to SharePoint?

You can bulk upload to SharePoint by clicking and dragging the selected files/folders to your SharePoint Library (modern view only). For the traditional library, select “Upload” at the top of the library, click “Add a Document”, then select your desired files and folders.