Does your business suffer from a Dropbox problem?
This overview covers:
- Challenges small business owners and IT are facing with BYOD
- Common data security concerns when Dropbox is used in a business environment
- Unique data control needs of small and medium sized companies
- Factors to consider when evaluating online file sharing solutions for your business
2. BYOD Trend
• Average mobile worker carries 3.5 devices*
• 4 of out 5 mobile devices are purchased at
home, but used for work**
• 92% expect to have their smartphones enabled
for both personal and business use*
• 62% of businesses to allow BYOD by year’s
end***
Sources:
* http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sap/average-mobile-worker-carries-3-5-devices-heres-the-downside/3172
** Forrester Research
*** http://www.zdnet.com/unavoidable-62-percent-of-companies-to-allow-byod-by-years-end-7000010703/
3. Challenges
• Employees utilizing third-party/consumer apps at
work
– Nearly 40% of workers use an unsupported “bring your
own” application or cloud service for work*
• Employees accessing company email and files on
personal devices
– How to keep track of files spread across different devices
and apps?
– What happens if a device is lost or stolen?
– How can you prevent an exposure of corporate data?
• Using additional resources needed to manage
devices* Source: http://www.unisys.com/unisys/news/detail.jsp?id=1120000970023710222
4. Example: Dropbox
• Lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos
anywhere
• Free up to 2 GB
• Recently claimed that it has 100 million users
and each day one billion files are saved to the
site*
• Dropbox is one of the most blacklisted apps in
businesses**
– 60 percent of companies have employees who
frequently move confidential files to Dropbox without
permission,
– 57 percent of IT administrators believe it can result in
Sources: * http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9233584/Dropbox_claims_100_million_users
** http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products/q4_enterprise_mobility_cloud_report.pdf
*** 2012 Confidential Documents at Risk Study. Ponemon Institute, LLC. July 2012
5. Issues With Employees Using
Dropbox
• No ability to track who is using free service
• No visibility into which company files are stored
on different devices
• No control over removing those files if necessary
• No version history/recovery for sharing
• No idea how much is spent cumulatively
(individual expense reports)
• SECURITY
7. Examples of Dropbox Security
Issues
Uses data deduplication to save storage costs*
Does not support private encryption keys**
Suffered a hack last summer that exposed customer
passwords to unscrupulous parties ***
Users reported spam attacks against email addresses
that they used only for the service****
Hackers use publicly-shared Dropbox folders to
spread malware*****
Sources: * http://www.itproportal.com/2011/05/17/dropbox-putting-clients-privacy-at-risk-deduplication/
** http://news.techworld.com/security/3380801/dropbox-alternative-lets-firms-retain-encryption-keys/
*** http://www.informationweek.com/security/client/dropbox-admits-hack-adds-more-security-f/240004697
**** http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229856/Dropbox_blames_employee_account_breach_for_spam_attack
***** http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/dropbox-used-chinese-hackers-spread-malware-6C10642402
8. “Dropbox for Business”
• Centralized billing ($795/year for 5 employees)
• Active Directory integration
• Version history and recovery
• Activity logs
• Two step verification for devices
• Option to restrict employees from sharing
outside company
• Phone and email support
9. Pros
Ease of use
Familiarity
Low Cost
Includes some business
features
Cons
Security concerns
– Data deduplication
– No private encryption keys
Sharing pitfalls
– No control who is added to
an externally-shared folder
– No sub-folder controls
No visibility into
when/if/what files are being
synced
No visibility into file activity
(When was a file modified?
Is it a personal or business
file?)
No remote wipe to remove
company files from lost or
Other Examples of Business Versions of Consumer Products –
SugarSync for Business, Norton Zone for Teams, Cubby Pro, CX for Business, Livedrive for Business
Dropbox for Business
10. Need for a Better Solution:
What to Look For
A product built specifically for business use
Enterprise level security
– No data deduplication across organizations
Reporting
– Centralized reporting of users / files / devices /
storage
– Audit trail of activity
Controls
– Permissions (sharing, web access, etc)
– Remote wipe
11. General Options for SMBs
Consumer Products (Not Recommended) Business Versions of Consumer Products
SMB Products Enterprise Products
12. Low End Tier of
Enterprise Products
Pros
High security
Integration with other
systems
Active Directory / LDAP
support for single sign-on
Cons
Designed for many users
Expensive
Require time to manage
Too many granular options
/ permissions on everything
Can be cumbersome
More features than needed
Examples – Box, Citrix ShareFile, Novell Filr, Accellion Kitedrive, ownCloud,
Druva inSync, GroupLogic activEcho, Egnyte
13. SMB Products
Pros
High security
Easy to use
Fast setup
Management console much
more robust than “prosumer”
Solid reporting – high level
snapshots, drill down to
details
Admin controls and settings
Key options still available
Cost effective
Cons
Not ideal for businesses with
more than 200 users
Examples – Memeo C1, AeroFS, Soonr
14. Key Takeaways
• BYOD brings big productivity gains, as well as
data security challenges for businesses
• “Dropbox for Business” has new features, but
lacks important tools available in competing
solutions designed for the SMB
• SMBs have a unique need for an easy to use,
secure file sharing and device management
solution
• Best fit for SMBs: solutions built for businesses,
not adapted
15. For more information contact us:
Memeo Inc
www.memeo.com/c1
+1 (408) 217-2232
info@memeo.com