Explosion of Apps Leads to Questions About Cloud Access Security
Posted by skyhighnetworks on May 12th, 2014
When Jamie Frankel downloaded Evernote to her phone, she never dreamed it would cause a cascade of events that would lead to her being fired. “Honestly, I just thought I was doing the right thing by using a tool to get my job done more efficiently,” says the former claims adjuster at Agentla Insurance.
Using Evernote to store information about claims including patient medical information is protected by the Health Insurance and Portability Act or HIPAA. Most hospitals and insurance companies have to abide by strict privacy controls to ensure patient information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. When Evernote experienced a breach last year, Frankel’s company had to notify the patients of the loss of information and fielded numerous complaints about their use of cloud services.
A new category in security is emerging to control cloud access security. Companies like Agentla are increasingly turning to new security tools to secure their use of cloud services and their data in the cloud. For instance, companies with patient information protected by HIPAA are looking to encrypt or block certain data from even being uploaded to the cloud, which would prevent incidents like the one with Frankel when she inadvertently uploaded the data.
By enforcing Cloud Access Security policies, companies can prevent the kinds of problems that happened at Agentla, but security experts say the trick is balancing the needs of end users with security of data. “You’ll never be able to secure data 100% unless you don’t use any software or a networked company. Companies need to balance their risk with the productivity improvements offered by technology.”
The promise of new Cloud Access Security solutions is little help to Frankel. “I’m much more careful now with the data I put into apps on my phone,” she says. “If it’s information at my company I now stick to apps provided by the company installed on my work laptop just to be on the safe side.
Author:
Skyhigh Networks, the Cloud Access Security company, enables companies to embrace Cloud Services with appropriate levels of security, compliance, and governance while lowering overall risk and cost. With customers in financial services, healthcare, high technology, media, manufacturing, and legal verticals, the company was a finalist for the RSA Conference 2013 Most Innovative Company award and was recently named a "Cool Vendor" by Gartner, Inc. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Skyhigh Networks is led by an experienced team and is venture-backed by Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit us at http://www.skyhighnetworks.com/cloud-university/what-is-cloud-access-security-broker/ or follow us on Twitter @skyhighnetworks.
