Vaultize has been helping businesses – including large enterprises in highly regulated and security conscious verticals – to replace their FTP servers. As an FTP alternative, Vaultize allows end-users to seamlessly share files within and outside the organization using secure links and at the same time, allows IT administrator to define sharing policies to control, manage and monitor the movement of files. IT can also define access control policies, allowing them to control how, when and from where the shared contents can be accessed by the recipients. One of the leading multi-national insurance companies, TATA AIA, has been using these Vautlize capabilities for over 2 years to comply with regulations and mitigate data loss risks.
Without changing their usual workflow, end-users can share files and folders through simple right-click in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder, do easy uploads through drag-n-drop on Web UI, through mobile apps or file/folder sync through Vaultize desktop clients. An Outlook Plug-in converts attachments into secure links based on IT policy. Whatever be the method, Vaultize makes large file transfers a seamless experience.
Vaultize effectively acts as a highly scalable and secure storage cloud. US patented Vault KNOX technology enables military-grade encryption and de-duplication at the data source. This guarantees efficiency and security. Further, enterprise IT and document owners can enforce enterprise digital rights management (eDRM aka information rights management) controls to restrict access to the shared documents only to authorized users with granular permissions. Rights management also enables tracking and auditing of files, with the ability to remotely revoke the access permissions.
We have now introduced traditional FTP interface for accessing data stored on Vaultize server/cloud. Users can access their “Vaults” (their own data as well as data shared with them) using any standard FTP client that supports passive FTP, like Windows Explorer, FileZilla and CyberDuck. On Vaultize public cloud, the port used is the default FTP port (21), while for Vaultize on-premise deployments (private cloud or appliance), IT has the flexibility to chose the port number
Administrative controls:
Administrators have the flexibility of enabling FTP access for specific users by controlling users’ licenses (from Account page). Granular permissions can be set for a user (or group) using access control policy - FTP adheres to the geo/IP/time fencing through multi-dimensional access rights and other rules defined by the applied access control policy. So administrators have the flexibility to set different rights inside the secure boundary and outside the secure boundary per user or group.
To define FTP granular permissions you can do the following:
1. Create an access control policy and define Geo/IP fence
2. Define Time based Fencing
4. Continue and save the policy.
5. Apply this policy to user(s) or group.
User Access:
To access his/her vault like a FTP “drive”, user needs to use the following settings in the FTP client:
Server: <Vaultize-Server-IP-or-FQDN> / ftp.vaultize.com
Port: 21 (but can be different in case of on-premise deployment)
Username: User’s Vaultize / AD / LDAP username (replace @ with $)
Password: User’s Vaultize / AD / LDAP password
Once logged in, user will see the following folders in the Vaultize FTP drive:
- All Data: Data created or uploaded through Windows/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android apps
- Shared Data: Workspace related data
- Data uploaded directly to the vault using web/mobile.
See the screenshot below where Vaultize is connected as a FTP drive using Windows Explorer.
File View/Edit:
As allowed by the policy, users can view or edit any of the files inside their Vaultize FTP drive. Files/folders that were added by the user himself appear in the "My Data" folder. If the FTP access control policy allows modifying, users can also edit the files. Otherwise, users will have to download and (if allowed) upload them back in order to modify the files in the vault.
File/Folder Creation:
Users can create new folders or files in Vaultize FTP drive and can also add files to the newly created folders. Users can drag and drop files/folders if supported by the FTP client (for example, as in Windows Explorer).
File/Folder Deletion:
If allowed by the access control policy, users can also delete files or folders from the Vaultize FTP drive and the corresponding file/folder would be added to Trash section on Vaultize web/mobile UI.
File/Folder Rename:
Files and folders can be renamed in the Vaultize FTP drive and the changes would instantly reflect in the user's web or mobile UI.
Support for FTP Secure (FTPS) and integration of FTP interface with enterprise digital rights management (eDRM) is slated for upcoming Vaultize releases.
You can read FTP Replacement case study of TATA AIA Insurance.
