Security not keeping pace with collaboration software 18 December, 2008 By Erin Bell

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> SaaS Trumps Social Media Mike Dubrall - Gilwell Group How to Evaluate Training William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Please join me at the Vendor Channel Management Summit in San Francisco Robert M. Cohen - Integrated mar.com Discount or Payment for Services? William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Goal Setting William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels

The survey polled 147 CIOs, CISOs and other IT executives spanning small and medium businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises.

More than 50 percent of respondents said that the primary methods of collaboration used within their organizations were Common Internet File Systems (CIFS), Web-based portals, and Microsoft SharePoint.

"Global enterprises are rapidly deploying collaboration applications to increase business responsiveness and improve global communications between employees, partners, contractors, customers and in some cases even competitors," the survey noted.

In spite of this, 70 percent of respondents said that their organizations aren't taking adequate steps to mitigate the risks associated with widely deployed collaboration technologies.

The number one security concern about collaboration, according to respondents, is unauthorized users accessing restricted data and information. One third of respondents said they feared that "unchecked" collaboration applications could lead to a data breach or compliance violation.

More than 50 percent responded that access policy enforcement solutions were too complicated and expensive to deploy, even though 70 percent said that such solutions were needed.

"The shocking truth this survey validates is that enterprises are deploying collaboration applications with little to no security policies that can enforce access controls to meet regulatory compliance mandates. Most of those polled indicated that the high cost and complexity associated with existing access management solutions is to blame for this lapse in security," said Rohati CEO Shane Buckley.

They survey also revealed that half of respondents said that the thing they were most concerned about in a collaborative environment was employees gaining unauthorized access to data and information.

Eighty percent of respondents said they were relying on basic authentication for security, including single sign-on and password. However, only 40 percent said they believed this was adequate in a collaborative environment.

Sixty-six percent of respondents indicated that authorization enforcement policies controlling the ability to print, store and delete files are needed in the collaborative environment.

Fifty-six percent indicated encryption is needed to protect data stored and transmitted in a collaborative environment.

"Organizations that rely on highly collaborative environments to conduct business are in desperate need of cost-effective access management solutions that can ubiquitously enforce granular access policies or face potential consequences," Buckley added.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Rohati is a provider of agent-less access management solutions.