Tag Archive for: cloud services

Major upgrade for Safe4

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2024 sees a major upgrade for Safe4

With the new year has come a major upgrade for Safe4. The highly secure information management and sharing service now has an enhanced user interface, with the ability to introduce a colour scheme of the customer’s choice.

The revamped user interface reflects a more modern and functionally rich experience for the user:

major upgrade for safe4, with document watermarking and enhanced branding

This new version of Safe4 is not just about cosmetic appearances, however. There are several significant changes to the functionality of the system…

This new version of Safe4 is not just about cosmetic appearances, however. There are several significant changes to the functionality of the system…

Documents can now be Watermarked

A highly configurable watermarking capability has been added as part of this major upgrade for Safe4. Any PDF file can show any chosen message, as well as a record of who has opened the document.

Documents in safe4 can be watermarked

This function also permits PDF files to be controlled, to help to reduce improper use of the information held in Safe4. Individual documents can be password controlled, and there are tools to support marking up PDF files, as well as preventing functions such as printing.

New user registration

New users will no longer be required to think of a username when accepting their invitation to register for Safe4. The system will apply the user’s email address as the username, simplifying the process and making it easier to remember usernames. If a user is invited to become a member of multiple vaults, they will simply have to enter a password and the system will automatically add them to the new vault.

Safe4 s hosted in the UK, on data centres accredited to ISO 27001. It complies with the Solicitors Regulation Authority guidance for cloud-based systems, and provides granular permissions, and a comprehensive audit trail and reporting capability.

If you would like more information on how the upgraded version of Safe4 can be of value to your business, please contact us. We will be delighted to assist.

Confusion reigns regarding responsibility for data protection compliance

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A recent survey suggests that there is still a good deal of confusion regarding responsibility for data protection compliance. Given that the UK adopted the EU GDPR into the Data Protection Act in May 2018, this reflects the general lack of awareness among many organisations today.

This survey also indicates a lack of clarity over whether cloud-based information management services offer better or worse protection that traditional on-premise storage. The answer of course is that the level of security and therefore protection depends on which cloud service provider is involved. Safe4 has an unblemished record of secure service provision, with an availability record very close to 100%. Not all cloud service providers can offer this.

Safe4 has also clarified the different roles and responsibilities relating to data protection in their Data Protection Policy – click here for more details. Safe4 does not claim ownership of any data that is stored within its system, and thus acts as the Data Processor. Customers own their data and have responsibility for any information that is placed in Safe4, and therefore are Data Controllers.

Adding to the benefit of using Safe4 for information storage is the fact that Safe4 only uses UK-based hosting services accredited to ISO 27001. Together with enhanced password strength management and 2-factor authentication, Safe4 provides a platform for its customers to be confident that the system will support their own Data Protection compliance programme. No cloud service provider can make its customers compliant with the Act however – ultimate responsibility lies with the Data Controller to ensure that their own information security policies and practices are enforced. The vast majority of data security breaches are caused by human error or poorly trained employees.

For more information on how Safe4 can assist your data protection compliance programme, please contact us.

Record of 100% availability of Safe4 continues – but not for all service providers

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Safe4 recorded another month of 100% availability in December 2018, to continue a remarkable record of availability in excess of 99.99% that stretches back to October 2017. In addition to providing the highest standards of security in managing customers’ documents and data, Safe4 also ensures that information is always available when needed.

Not all service providers are able to claim such a record, as published today. As well as utilising UK-only data centres accredited to ISO 27001 and being fully compliant with the Solicitors Regulation Authority guidance for cloud computing, Safe4 has been able to ensure that customers’ business activities are not curtailed or interrupted by the system being unavailable.

For more information on how Safe4 can help your organisation to improve security, reduce costs and enhance client service, please contact us. We will be very pleased to assist you.

UK Watchdog makes some cloud service providers think again – it’s about time!

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The UK watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, has decided to crack down on some of the biggest names in cloud data services by enforcing a stipulation for fairer and more transparent contracts. By recognising the the need for improvements in the contractual terms that the major providers offer, the CMA has given a boost to the protection that users of these services can expect. Click here for more detail.

The majority of them, of course, are still opaque as to where their data is stored. Even those that claim to hold their customers’ data in the UK are still very vague as to whether backups are held exclusively in the UK, or shipped to overseas data centres where capacity may be more readily available or less expensive. If data is moved outside the United Kingdom it can fall under the jurisdiction of countries whose data privacy laws do not offer the same level of protection.

Since 2010 Safe4 has provided a highly secure UK-only data storage service, making use of ISO 27001-accredited data centres. As well as levels of security and availability that are among the best in the industry, Safe4 customers enjoy the certainty that their data does not leave the UK. And Safe4 has not needed a market watchdog to enforce the offering of fair and transparent contractual commitments to its customers. Contact us for more information.

Safe4 and IT Farm to work together, with a focus on the UK professional services sector

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Safe4 are delighted to announce that they are to work closely with IT Farm, a Manchester-based specialist cloud services provider. With a long history of offering cloud services in the UK, IT Farm have been providing high quality outsourced IT support services, including hosted desktop and telephony solutions, to the professional services sector in the UK.

This complements the experience that Safe4 have gained in the financial and professional services environment. With customers in the banking, legal, accounting and insurance sectors, Safe4 are ideally placed to work closely with IT Farm to deliver a range of complementary solutions. IT Farm’s customer base includes a number of organisations that will be able to take advantage of the highly secure document delivery and storage facilities offered by Safe4.

Ben Martin, director of Safe4 Information Management, believes that working closely with IT Farm is a natural step. “The emphasis we have placed on security since the company was formed in 2010 allows professional practitioners and others to share documents in complete confidence with clients, partners, associates, suppliers, employees, and other professional firms. This forms an essential element within a range of IT solutions that modern practices are now demanding, and creates an opportunity for integration with practice management, finance and accounting, and other business applications. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with IT Farm, who are able to bring together a number of complementary solution providers. Our SRA-compliant service will thus enable law firms in particular to take advantage of a range of opportunities for secure and effective integrated information management.”

Please contact us for more information on the benefits of adopting the Safe4 service.

US may be set to change data privacy laws – again!

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The Safe Harbor data privacy agreement between the US and the EU was deemed to be ineffective in 2015, and was subsequently replaced with a Privacy Shield arrangement – which is still considered by many to be inadequate. Recent announcements by the new US administration suggest that the internal data privacy laws in the US will be subject to further change, affecting those who are not US citizens or permanent residents in the US. Please click here for more background on this development.

Safe4 decided back in 2010 that all of the data held within its secure document delivery and storage service would be stored in UK-located data centres, accredited to ISO 27001. This offers maximum protection to our customers and their clients, employees, suppliers, partners and associates. Reliance on US-hosted data storage could be seen to carry unnecessary risk of misuse or disclosure of personally-identifiable information, hence the benefit of keeping all stored data onshore within the UK.

For more detail on the measures that Safe4 applies to keep information secure, please contact us. We would be very pleased to speak with you.

Does it matter where your cloud data is stored?

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Many millions of people now are using online systems that are hosted in the cloud. However, do we all know what that means, or the location where our vital information is being held?

The dramatic rise in the use of social media in the last decade has meant that a vast amount of personal information is being stored in cloud-based platforms, not all of which regard personal security or privacy as their top priority.

A recent article on the BBC website helped to highlight this – click here to read the article. The uncertainty over the location where data is stored, and the privacy laws in the jurisdiction that governs the use of that data, gives rise to a potentially major concern.

For this reason, Safe4 decided back in 2010 that ALL data stored within its servers would be held securely in a UK location. Because Safe4 does not allow its service to be used for advertising or any other form of promotional activity, the content of stored data and documents is completely safe. Unlike several of the major providers named in the BBC article, the business model of Safe4 does not permit the penetration of “confidential” information in customers’ accounts so that it can generate advertisements to the user based on their content.

The hosting partner of Safe4 was selected using different criteria. Because we know our customers need to be able to trust us to keep their information safe, we chose to work with a world leader in the provision of highly secure services, with an excellent record of 24/7 availability and reliability. Using ISO 27001-accredited data centres in the UK only, Safe4 has built a reputation for high quality of service and security levels which are among the highest in the industry.

For more information on how Safe4 secure information delivery and storage services can assist your organisation, please contact us.

Beware the perils of “free” cloud storage services

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Are “free” cloud storage services really free?

Logic would suggest that whilst they may appear to be free at the point of actually storing a file, it is worth remembering that the companies who offer free storage services only do so because they want your data. Once stored on their servers, most of the large providers of such services will apply terms and conditions that at best allow them to interrogate users’ data, and at worst to actually claim ownership of users’ data.

It is also worth asking – what does the storage provider owe to the user, if the service is free? If data is lost or corrupted, or accessed without authority, who is liable? It is very unlikely that the storage provider will accept liability in such cases.

Even worse: what if the provider decides that after a period of time the service is no longer free or unlimited. A startling example of this has recently occurred in the case of Microsoft; click here for further details.

Reassuringly, the service offered by Safe4 is not free. We do not charge for storage as such, but offer competitive rates based on usage. The standard terms and conditions under which Safe4 operates give our customers significant protection, and can be accompanied by insurance against cyber attack if required.

Please contact us to learn more about how Safe4 can assist your business to provide highly secure document delivery and storage services to your employees, agents, clients, and any other internal or external parties.

Proposed successor to Safe Harbor is “inadequate”

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The EU has indicated that the replacement to the US – EU Safe Harbor data privacy arrangement, known as Privacy Shield, is inadequate, and does not offer sufficient protection for confidential data being shared by organisations who operate on both sides of the Atlantic. More detail is available: click here.

The risks associated with holding confidential information in jurisdictions that do not apply the same data privacy approach as the UK was the primary reason why Safe4 hosts all of its data in UK data centres only, accredited to the ISO 27001 security standard. Together with annual penetration testing performed under the UK Government’s CHECK scheme, and sophisticated encryption of all stored data, Safe4 offers a highly secure environment for the sharing and storage of confidential information.

For more information on the security measures taken by Safe4 to protect customers’ information, please contact us.

Health data services moving to the cloud?

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Discussions over the suitability of the cloud for the storage and management of confidential information have grown in intensity in recent years, as the use of cloud-based resources has increased dramatically.

There has long been resistance to the use of cloud data services to handle clinical information relating to individuals’ health, based on concerns over the levels of security that cloud service providers offer, despite some cloud services being demonstrably more secure than many internally hosted systems. There is indeed an argument that maintaining health data relating to certain conditions in the cloud can help to save lives. This concept is being trialled internationally, with interesting results – click here for more information.

Safe4 provide cloud-based information management services for a number of organisations in the UK and internationally for whom security is of paramount importance – using only UK-located data centres accredited to the ISO 27001 security standard.  For more information on how using Safe4 might benefit your organisation, please contact us. We would welcome an opportunity to talk with you.