How to mitigate Rogue Access with ConnectID and ShareSync

Mitigate Rogue Access with ConnectID & ShareSync

According to Valiant Global Solutions' 2014 SMB Rogue Access study, 68% of ex-employees stored work files in personal cloud storage and 89% of ex-employees retain access to their corporate apps! That’s probably because services like Dropbox and Google Docs are so easy to use and so many users provision apps without IT’s knowledge.

What’s the solution?

1.   To prevent Rogue Access, you need cloud storage that’s just as simple to use—but built to give IT business-grade control over access and permissions. We recommend ShareSync by Valiant Global Solutions. ShareSync is an integrated file sync and share service that offers simplicity and mobility without risking control or protection. Watch the short demos below to see how ShareSync works and how it can help prevent against Rogue Access.

ShareSync Syncing Features

ShareSync Folder Collaboration


ShareSync File Sharing

ShareSync Outlook and Office Integration

ShareSync Security and Control Features

2.  A single sign-on (SSO) portal helps solve the problem. SSO lets users save all their apps into a single launchpad. This makes the cloud simpler and more secure for users. More importantly, it gives IT visibility into all the apps that employees use. This makes it easy to spot unknown services and flag them for deprovisioning. We recommend ConnectID by Valiant Global Solutions. ConnectID is a Single Sign-On portal that provides users with a single point of access to ALL their web apps with just one click and just one password. Watch the short demos below to see how ConnectID works and how it can help prevent against Rogue Access.

ConnectID Overview

ConnectID Managing SSO (Single Sign-On) for Applications and Users

ConnectID Installing and Getting SSO (Single Sign-On) Started for Users

ConnectID Adding Custom Applications for SSO (Single Sign-On)

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

www.valiant-gs.com

Procedures to help prevent Rogue Access (checklist)

Best practices for tracking access to IT systems

Osterman Research recently surveyed knowledge workers about their access to former employers’ IT systems.

An incredible 89% of respondents retained access to at least one system—such as Salesforce, PayPal, email, SharePoint and other sensitive corporate apps.

Key Osterman Research recommendations include implementing best practices for managing employee access to IT services as well as a rigorous IT offboarding process for departing employees.

This blog presents a template for bringing these practices to your company. It includes guidelines for setting up internal processes as well as specific actions to take when onboarding and offboarding employees.

In addition, it includes recommendations specific to regulated industries such as financial services, legal services and healthcare.

The first step to preventing unauthorized access by current and former employees is to develop a complete understanding of your IT landscape and the access privileges within it.

IT systems access recommendations

1. Establish a security and compliance group within the company This group should monitor two key areas: 1) who has access to which IT services and 2) how information is being accessed and shared. You should build this group’s role into broader IT policies so that alerts can go out when a policy has been violated. This group should provide compliance and security training to employees on a quarterly/yearly basis.
2. Put in place a clear set of company IT policies. This includes policies on app usage, a list of approved sites and services and a list of approved software and apps that employees can use. Also, require that employees use company-provided logins for these apps instead of personal logins.
3. Provide role-based access to applications. Create a stringent approval process for all services, apps, and equipment that employees need. Employ two levels of approval for each request: approval from the employee’s direct manager, as well as a VP or account owner. Keep records in a centralized database, so you have a clear “paper trail” of all services and equipment given to each employee.
4. Create a central repository for admin logins and passwords. Don’t give users admin rights to their laptops. Instead, require employees to log tickets with IT to get access to download new software.
5. Eliminate shared logins/accounts. Assign accounts to one person whenever possible. If you have to use a shared account for budgetary reasons, make sure you rotate out the password on a monthly basis and employ strong password policies.
6. Conduct regular audits. Audit all your user accounts (LDAP, Active Directory, all apps) regularly. Have a single place for running audit reports and searching for users. Make sure you track all the apps being used—regardless of department— so you know who’s paying for them, who “owns” them, and what access and control IT has.
7. Regularly inquire with the finance department about the contracts that are in place with external vendors. This is a great way to identify web applications that might be in-use by the company that did not go through IT.

Employee onboarding recommendations

1. Set up your accounts in Active Directory, and make sure all cloud apps are SAML authenticated. This gives you one central location to manage employee accounts. It also makes it faster and easier to provision and de-provision employees.
2. Use unique identifiers when creating new employee accounts. In the system in which you’re creating the account, fill an unused attribute field with the employee’s unique HR-assigned ID number. This way, if a user has different name listings (e.g. J. Smith, Joe S., etc.), it’s easier to find all the apps with which they are associated.
3. Maintain a distribution list to announce new hires. A distribution lists ensures that all key departments (Finance, HR, Facilities, etc.) are notified without fail when someone new is coming onboard.
4. Run a system audit when employees change departments. Make sure you de-provision access to anything the employee no longer needs in their new role. That way, employees always have access to only those systems and applications that they really need to do their jobs.

Employee offboarding recommendations

1. Adhere to a strict employee offboarding checklist. A sample checklist is included in this document.
2. Maintain distribution list for terminations. Similar to your new hire distribution list, create a list that informs key departments (Finance, HR, Facilities, Legal, etc.) when an employee is leaving.
3. Direct the email account of a departing employee to his/her manager. Reroute the departing employee’s email account to their manager for the first 2-3 months so that important messages are retained and handled.
4. Terminate all employee accounts. It is critical to terminate every employee account to every service, both on-premises and in the cloud. If the employee is the primary contact for an online account or project, make sure that contact gets re-assigned.
5. Review the apps saved in your employee’s single sign-on portal. This is an excellent method for discovering apps that an employee may have provisioned or used without IT’s knowledge. (These “unknown” apps are the most likely to create the risk of post-employment access.)
6. Make sure to collect all company assets: laptops, phones, ID badges, software, etc. Also make sure you collect any external hard drives or company-owned equipment an employee may have used as part of a home office.

Recommendations for regulated companies

If you’re in a regulated industry such as finance or healthcare, you must put extra measures in place to ensure compliance with governmental regulations. Here’s a list of suggestions that regulated companies can implement to better control access to corporate accounts and data.

1. Eliminate access to outside email/internet.
2. Restrict access to certain sites/apps (e.g. Facebook) to read-only.
3. Only allow access to company-approved sites.
4. Require employees to use desktop machines or dummy terminals.
5. Don’t allow employees to take laptops or work computers home.
6. Remove the ability for employees to utilize USB or external hard drives to save data from their computer.
7. Implement an approval process for all outbound email. This may include requiring approval by a manager before email goes out.
8. Only allow work email and information to be accessed on company-issued mobile devices.

Download the offboarding checklist today!

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

www.valiant-gs.com

Do Ex-Employees Still Have Access to Your Corporate Data?

Organizations of all sizes have a problem that most of them are not addressing adequately: their employees store corporate data on various file-sharing and content access platforms and most of these people still have access to this data after they are no longer employees.

Worse, much of this data in what Osterman Research is calling “rogue applications” is sensitive or confidential and many former employees continue to access it and – in some cases – share it with others.

Osterman Research conducted a survey to quantify the extent of the rogue applications problem. In order to qualify for the survey, respondents had to use a computer for work for more than 50% of a typical workday in their current job and in a previous job. A total of 379 online surveys were completed during June 2014. The results are shocking.


Read the white paper in full by Osterman Research to learn the shocking results as well as preventative steps your company can take to protect against this very real Rogue Access threat.

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into file sharing and learn how you can save big by replacing your File Servers with ShareSync. and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Introduction to "Rogue access" and the Osterman findings

Osterman Research shares why your ex-employees could be your next big security threat

What happens when an employee leaves your company? If you're like many small and medium-sized businesses, you'll collect their laptops and IDs and then quickly work towards filling the newly vacant position. But if you're not thinking about the IT access they're bringing with them, then your company is at risk.

We sat down with Michael Osterman of Osterman Research to shed some light on this issue. Below are a few highlights from our conversation:

Q. How big of an issue is this for organizations?

A.  It's a fairly serious one. And it's fairly under the radar. You don't see a lot about this in the trade press. It's the kind of thing that people understand intellectually, but they really haven't done much about, because this hasn't been a priority for them.

I think this report is going to help to shake some things up and hopefully, make people more aware of the kinds of issues they face by not managing these applications well enough. This really is one of the real implications of BYOD that a lot of organizations just have not considered yet.

Q. What are the ramifications of 'rogue access', particularly for SMB's?

A.  First and foremost, if you have sensitive or confidential data stored in Dropbox or Google Drive or any of the other personal employee accounts, you potentially run afoul of data breach notification laws. This data is now accessible by someone in another company. That means, in many cases, you have violated the data breach notification requirement that requires you to protect that consumer financial data or protected health information from unauthorized parties. And certainly, an ex-employee would be an unauthorized party.

Another implication is gaining access to that data. If you ever have to go through e-discovery or some sort of regulatory audit, or if you just want to bring it all back in house, it's much more difficult to do because now you've got all this access in a variety of repositories that other people in other companies also have access to.

And it means that you potentially could have spoliation of data: that an employee could then delete your information in their account. It might be information you need for a lawsuit or just want to have in-house, and now you don't have it anymore simply because an employee has intentionally or inadvertently deleted it.

Q.  Why aren't SMB's doing more to address this issue?

A.  It's not a really visible issue. For example, people will employ Dropbox or other applications, because they want to work at home or have files available to them while they are traveling and so forth. And in SMBs that don't really have an IT department or a full-time IT person, someone might implement this IT technology for the good of the company and the good of their own job.

Organizations really don't have policies around this. They don't have best practices. They allow these things to grow organically. And they're all done, in the vast majority of cases, for good purposes. But the problem is they turn into this ugly, unwieldy monster after a time that nobody really has control over.

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into file sharing and learn how you can save big by replacing your File Servers with ShareSync. and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Cut costs and increase ability when replacing File Servers with ShareSync

File Servers aren't only costly, they also are hard to use, with limited mobility and collaboration support.

There’s a better option than File Servers for your business: ShareSync, cloud-based file sync and share. Compared to File Servers, ShareSync offloads hardware and electricity costs, slashes IT complexity and, most importantly, enables modern collaboration and mobility. Learn more about how easy ShareSync is with our videos below.

How much can you save with ShareSync vs. a costly File Server? The results are in. View our cost savings calculator below to see for yourself.

Insert the following prices into the calculator below:

• $4.99 – 10 GB per user
• $9.99 – 100 GB per user
• $14.99 – Unlimited storage per user

GO TO CALCULATOR

*The ShareSync cost savings calculator only provides an estimate of your potential savings and is used for illustrative purposes only. The estimate is non-binding. Your actual experience with ShareSync service may vary from the estimate presented by the calculator.

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into file sharing and learn how you can save big by replacing your File Servers with ShareSync. And explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

5 reasons why costly File Servers are a relic of the past

Costs aren't the only downside to File Servers. If you’re running a File Server, then you may be at risk. Here are five reasons why File Servers are costly and slow down your business:

1. File Servers are high-cost and low-agility.
   File Servers are machines, and machines need maintenance and upgrades. This adds up to significant expense. And what happens when your company expands? That’s more money and more resources lost in building out more server space.

2. You get no uptime guarantees.
   How much would it cost your business to be down for a day? How about for even 1 hour? According to VentureBeat, about 73% of businesses like yours have had some type of interruption in the past 5 years. Downtime means lost data and missed opportunities.

3. File Servers aren't made for a mobile workforce.
   Today’s mobile workforce needs immediate access to their data from anywhere, on any device. With a File Server, “mobile” means logging in to a VPN on a laptop or dealing with the hassle of configuring a mobile device connection. And even then, it might not work with all devices.

4. Sharing files outside your business is complicated—if possible at all.
   In today’s business world, your business often needs to view or collaborate on files. But a File Server may not provide this capability. Even if it does, it’s hard to set up on the server side, to say nothing of the requirements on your user’s computer. Once again, there’s additional investment in time, money and energy.

5. Collaborating on files gets messy. Fast.
   What happens when two people both need to work on a file? How do you prevent one person from overwriting the work of the other? With File Servers, you don’t have control over versioning and overwriting. It’s a chaotic mess and a drain on productivity.

How much can you save with ShareSync vs. a costly File server? The results are in. View our cost savings calculator below to see for yourself.

Insert the following prices into the calculator below:

• $4.99 – 10 GB per user
• $9.99 – 100 GB per user
• $14.99 – Unlimited storage per user

Calculator

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into file sharing and learn how you can save big by replacing your File Servers with ShareSync. and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Replace your File Server and save over $18,240 over 3 years… We can prove it!

An average business with 15 employees can save over $18,240 over 3 years with ShareSync when compared to File Servers.

How much can you save with ShareSync vs. a costly File Server? View our cost savings calculator below to see for yourself.

Insert the following prices into the calculator below:

• $4.99 – 10 GB per user
• $9.99 – 100 GB per user
• $14.99 – Unlimited storage per user

Cost Calculator

*The ShareSync cost savings calculator only provides an estimate of your potential savings and is used for illustrative purposes only. The estimate is non-binding. Your actual experience with ShareSync service may vary from the estimate presented by the calculator.

Can ShareSync from Valiant Global Solutions help?

There’s a better option than File Servers for your business: ShareSync, cloud-based file sync and share. Compared to File Servers, ShareSync offloads hardware and electricity costs, slashes IT complexity and, most importantly, enables modern collaboration and mobility. Use our cost savings calculator to see how much you can save your business.

Remember, not all file sync and share services are designed for business. Many of them have their roots in the consumer world. So when you consider file server alternatives, consider ShareSync by Valiant Global Solutions: it’s designed specifically to give users the simplicity and mobility of the consumer-style tools combined with the control and protection that businesses need for secure collaboration and sharing.

With ShareSync, you get full mobile access to all your files for increased productivity. Your IT administrators get control over access to files and folders alone with at-rest and in-transit encryption for total security. And everyone in your business will stay productive.

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into file sharing and learn how you can save big by replacing your File Servers with ShareSync. and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Compare your current phone bill to Hosted PBX with our calculator

Use our savings calculator to see how much you can save moving to Hosted PBX

Recently, we set out to prove our claim that businesses can “save 50% or more moving to Hosted PBX.” And prove it we did!

Our cost savings study looked at 19 businesses who were considering replacing their phone system and compared monthly phone service costs from their current provider against Hosted PBX. It then added how much they paid upfront for their phone systems. Findings from this cost savings study show that, on average, companies save over 50% on monthly phone service costs by moving to
Hosted PBX. That number is even higher if you factor in hardware costs.

When you reduce your business phone services bill, the savings over time can quickly add up. Here’s what we discovered:

• Per-line service fees. On average, the businesses were paying monthly per-line service fees of $44.64, compared with Hosted PBX’s monthly per-line service fee of $29.99
• Carrier fees. On average, these businesses paid monthly carrier fees of $11.23 per line, compared with Hosted PBX’s carrier fees of $1.50 per line
• Local and long distance fees. Like with Hosted PBX, many of the providers covered in the analysis charge no per-line local or long distance fees — although a few charge, per line, as much as $14.75 for local service and $5.00 for long distance service

Can Hosted PBX really cut your bills by over 50%?

The findings of our study represent the average savings these businesses experienced when purchasing Hosted PBX. However, not all companies are created equal. So don’t stop at averages. Use our savings calculator below to see how much you can save your business.

Hosted PBX vs the Phone Company...they don't want you to save money

Our Hosted PBX Cost Savings Study is here!

We love a good challenge. So when we were challenged to prove our “50% savings on Hosted PBX” claim, we couldn't wait to dive into the numbers.

And a deep dive it was.

Our study looked at the phone bills of 19 small and medium sized businesses, and how much they paid upfront when their phone systems were installed.

The results didn’t surprise us. Will they surprise you?  Download White Paper.

Visit our website for more information and future events

Join us as we delve into the before-and-after comparison of these businesses’ phone bills, discuss how to untangle the phone bill mess and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Is saving 50% on your business phone service important to you? Try Hosted PBX...here's why

Hosted PBX saves you 50% or more...and we can prove it!

How much can you save with Hosted PBX? Our study looked at 19 companies' phone costs and the results might be surprising. To see how businesses like yours save 50% or more, watch this 1 minute video.

Cost savings are just the beginning. Hosted PBX offers a full suite of Fortune 500 style features, such as auto attendant, hunt groups, music-on-hold, conferencing, and much more. Getting started with Hosted PBX is simple and, of course you can keep your existing phone numbers.

Visit our website for more information and view our IT product offerings & pricing

Join us on as we delve into the before-and-after comparison of these businesses’ phone bills, discuss how to untangle the phone bill mess and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Also visit our at Valiant Global Solution's Blog for continued conversation and updates about saving money for your business.

Click HERE for HP & Other Product Specials for April 2015

Use our savings calculator to see how much you can save moving to Hosted PBX

Use our savings calculator to see how much you can save moving to Hosted PBX

Recently, we set out to prove our claim that businesses can “save 50% or more moving to Hosted PBX.” And prove it we did!

Our cost savings study looked at 19 businesses who were considering replacing their phone system and compared monthly phone service costs from their current provider against Hosted PBX. It then added how much they paid upfront for their phone systems. Findings from this cost savings study show that, on average, companies save over 50% on monthly phone service costs by moving to
Hosted PBX. That number is even higher if you factor in hardware costs.

When you reduce your business phone services bill, the savings over time can quickly add up. Here’s what we discovered:

• Per-line service fees. On average, the businesses were paying monthly per-line service fees of $44.64, compared with Hosted PBX’s monthly per-line service fee of $29.99
• Carrier fees. On average, these businesses paid monthly carrier fees of $11.23 per line, compared with Hosted PBX’s carrier fees of $1.50 per line
• Local and long distance fees. Like with Hosted PBX, many of the providers covered in the analysis charge no per-line local or long distance fees — although a few charge, per line, as much as $14.75 for local service and $5.00 for long distance service

Can Hosted PBX really cut your bills by over 50%?

The findings of our study represent the average savings these businesses experienced when purchasing Hosted PBX. However, not all companies are created equal. So don’t stop at averages. Use our savings calculator below to see how much you can save your business.

Our Hosted PBX Cost Savings Study is here!

Our Hosted PBX Cost Savings Study is here!

We love a good challenge. So when we were challenged to prove our “50% savings on Hosted PBX” claim, we couldn't wait to dive into the numbers.

And a deep dive it was.

Our study looked at the phone bills of 19 small and medium sized businesses, and how much they paid upfront when their phone systems were installed.

The results didn't surprise us. Will they surprise you? Download the White Paper 

Visit our website for more information and future events

Join us on as we delve into the before-and-after comparison of these businesses’ phone bills, discuss how to untangle the phone bill mess and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com

Hosted PBX saves you 50% or more...
and we can prove it!

How much can you save with Hosted PBX? Our study looked at 19 companies' phone costs and the results might be surprising. To see how businesses like yours save 50% or more, watch this 1 minute video.
Cost savings are just the beginning. Hosted PBX offers a full suite of Fortune 500 style features, such as auto attendant, hunt groups, music-on-hold, conferencing, and much more. Getting started with Hosted PBX is simple and, of course you can keep your existing phone numbers.

Visit our website for more information and future events

Join us on as we delve into the before-and-after comparison of these businesses’ phone bills, discuss how to untangle the phone bill mess and explore the hidden costs to avoid.  www.valiant-gs.com