This post looks at FileFlex as arguably the worlds most secure file sharing software.  Because FileFlex is a software-only solution applied to your existing storage, files stay in their source locations on your storage, behind your firewall. This means that they stay under your control, or in the case of corporate clients, under the umbrella of the corporate owned infrastructure, behind the corporate firewall and under the control of IT. Access is permission-based and not a link that can be forwarded or posted on social media. Users have encrypted direct access to files and all activities are logged.

We all have stuff that we want to share with our colleagues, family and friends – photo, video, movies and document files.  Before the advent of file sharing software, if you had something to share, you had to physically copy the file to a floppy drive, carry it over to your friend’s computer and then copy it over to his hard drive.  This meant you had to physically transfer the files.  (We still share files using a physical device today, however instead of floppy disks we use USB sticks.)

With the advent of email, filesharing became a lot easier – all you had to do was attach the file to an email and hit send.  The problem with email was that you could not send big files such as high resolution photos, or videos or large PowerPoint presentations.  Even today, for small files email is still by far the most popular method of sharing files.
 

The Rise of Cloud Based File Sharing

The introduction of the smart phone and tablet have brought disruptive change to file sharing. Seventy-five percent (75%) of workers are now mobile, 60% of online adults use at least 2 devices a day and 40% start an activity on one device and finish it on another.¹

As we travel with our shiny new devices, we expect and demand that all of our information travel with us. We expect all of our files and folders to be at our fingertips.  With the rise of the mobile worker, our needs have shifted from storage to accessible storage and our paradigm shifted from device centric data to data continuity.

The industry response to the data requirements of mobile workers, smart phones and tablets has been massive. The industry has responded with public clouds such as Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox,  EFSS (Enterprise File Sync and Share), private cloud and virtual private cloud solutions.
 

Shortcomings and Limitations of Cloud File Sharing

In order to share from the cloud, you have to copy your file to the cloud or you have to create a sync folder and sync to the cloud.  You are creating duplication.  Sync folders can be confusing.  You cannot sync everything and can easily run out of sync space.  Additionally, it is easy to miss important files and not have them when you need them.  There are also inherent privacy and security risks.  Even the most popular such as Dropbox have been breached and Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all had service outages.

Cloud storage solutions virtualize their storage.  Files stored in the cloud are abstracted from their physical devices so that they can be accessed and shared from your devices.  Files stored on your storage devices are not virtualized.  They have the technology, so you copy the files from your un-virtualized storage to their virtualized storage.
 

Secure file sharing software using file access virtualization – The Better Way

Private file sharing software using file access virtualization technology is the better way.  The technology allows you to virtualize your own storage with file sharing directly from source locations.  The technology abstracts your files on your storage devices and from their source locations so that they can be accessed and shared from any computer, any laptop, any tablet or any smart phone, from anywhere.  You don’t have to upload or sync to third parties. Your data stays on your storage, on your premises, behind your firewall and under your control.

Also, when you use file access virtualization technology for file sharing, you do not run up against storage limits, file size limits or quality degradation.

File sharing software using file access virtualization technology is very secure.  FileFlex has a layered approach to the security of your files.  First, files stay in their source locations and nothing is moved or copied to a third party.  This means that it stays under your control, or in the case of corporate clients, under the umbrella of the corporate owned infrastructure, behind the corporate firewall and under the control of IT.  Privacy and security of information can be contained completely on-premise without worrying about breaches, outages, ownership or who has access to data when it is stored and maintained by third parties.  Secondly, users have high level encrypted direct access to the files with trusted certificates.  This is the same level of protection offered by financial institutions to protect transactions over the internet. And thirdly, FileFlex provides a log of data-in-motion activities (even for in-app activities via public clouds) for audit and regulatory compliance issues.
 

FileFlex File Access Virtualization – It’s Free to Try

Still not convinced.  Well seeing is believing and we have made FileFlex free to try.  Click here  and see for yourself.