Keep your data safe and your client’s data safer

It’s now entirely normal to have a workforce who all get at least a few days a month working from home. But while telecommuting has become a standard issue company perk it means a group of employees working outside not only the office walls but the office firewalls and data security needs are critical.

Keeping company information safe is important for two reasons, the first is to keep your cash where it’s supposed to be and the second is to keep your proprietary data away from prying eyes, which could be anything from a client database to a business model. Modern business doesn’t just have remote work forces to contend with, but also static workforces who, after receiving a notification while at home or out grabbing a coffee, might check some documents and/or fire off a quick email.

While this is going on the business has no guarantee of the quality of device the employee is using, the quality of the internet connection or the level of nous the employee will put to the task. The simple answer is to have all employees only using company devices for company tasks, which are secure, and restrict a whole range of activities like random internet browsing and personal emails. But who wants to work in that world?

So in the shadow of impending doom Zoho, the CRM provider, has introduced ManageEngine Password Manager and ManageEngine Key Manager Plus to Zoho Vault. This is an extension to their existing security portfolio and will include the ability to share passwords without revealing them in plain-text, have password access on request-release workflow and send time-limited access to passwords, so you can let someone access a password for a day or for the length of the project contract.

This is a significant addition to the Chennai-based company which now boasts 30 apps in its portfolio and 18 million users.

When people start a new company it’s perfectly normal to ask not just if they can work from home, but how often. Usually managers shrug and say “sure, I don’t mind you guys working from home one day a week”. And while no one wants that to end, data security needs dictate that that sentence is now soon followed by “I’ll get you the right logins you need to be able to access everything while you’re not in the office.”