Many companies and other organizations regularly find themselves needing to manage and transfer sensitive information. Should such documents or files fall into the wrong hands, untold amounts of harm can easily follow.
Fortunately, there are some well-established ways to keep sensitive documents secure when transferring them, even in particularly hostile environments. Accounting for each of five fundamentally important considerations should always minimize the likelihood of a problem arising.
Five Cornerstones of Secure Document Transfer
Documents and data kept locked up on ostensibly secure servers or in filing cabinets can still end up becoming accessible to unauthorized parties. Put such a file in motion by trying to transfer it to others, though, and the number of threats that need to be acknowledged and addressed skyrockets in just about every case.
As such, it will always be important to keep sensitive files safe while they are en route, no matter how secure the origin and destination might be. In practice, that most often means doing everything possible to maximize security in five distinct respects.
The channel
Whether they are physical or virtual, documents of all kinds can be transferred in a number of ways. The choice of a particular means of movement will always impact the overall security of a transfer. Using a secure fax service will always be preferable to hope for the best with an alternative that makes no such claims. Should a physical document need to be transferred, a courier service that conducts extensive vetting of workers will be preferable to one that does not. Since the channel or medium chosen to enable the transfer of a sensitive document will always set the stage for everything else, it should normally receive the most scrutiny and attention.
Protection
It might occasionally make sense to transfer a sensitive document without trying to protect it while in transit, but that is fairly rare. It will far more often be wise and productive to utilize whichever appropriate, effective forms of protection are available. For digital documents, that will normally mean employing a carefully designed, rigorously tested algorithm as the Advanced Encryption Standard endorsed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Even where another option seems to be newer and more innovative, it will normally be best to stick to forms of protection that have established track records.
Auditing
Whenever a sensitive document changes hands or makes its way onto a new device, opportunities for illegitimate access arise. Establishing strict auditing controls will help prevent sensitive information from becoming exposed without the breach being recognized. Even where auditing fails to prevent a particular problem from arising, it will highlight the need for an appropriate response. Failing to keep up with auditing can cause long-lasting access problems that persist despite ongoing damage piling up.
Exposure
Trusting too much in the success of one transfer of sensitive information can be profoundly costly. Should a transfer not go as planned, the amount of harm done will normally be proportional to both the scale and value of the contents. It will often be best to limit the size of each individual transfer in order to do the same to the magnitude of potential problems.
Accountability
Making responsible parties accountable for the handling and transfer of sensitive data will always improve security. A lack of accountability can easily encourage sloppiness that undermines the effectiveness of all the security-related precautions that were employed.
Every Sensitive Document Deserves Proper Treatment
These five issues combine to form the foundation on which effective document transfer security processes can be built. Failing to account for any of these five important matters can cause a sensitive document to fall into the wrong hands in the course of a transfer.