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Secure File Sharing for Manufacturing: Ensuring Sensitive Content Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

by Robert Dougherty updated March 28, 2023 Secure File Sharing

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Secure file sharing is an essential part of any manufacturing business. It allows companies to share sensitive information like production schedule data, quality control data, machine utilization rates, employee safety reports, product design specifications, and other intellectual property securely and often in compliance with GxP standards. Secure file sharing helps ensure this sensitive content is shared securely with supply chain partners, consultants, and auditors without fear of it being accessed by unauthorized personnel.

Manufacturing companies that choose to rely on legacy file sharing solutions like email, managed file transfer (MFT), or secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) risk exposing confidential information to unauthorized access. A data breach, whether accidental or malicious, can cost manufacturing companies millions in lost revenue, penalties, litigation, and more.

This post examines the need for secure file sharing for manufacturing, the risks of unsecured file sharing, and how secure file sharing can help protect intellectual property, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and even increase productivity and collaboration.

Understanding Secure File Sharing

Secure file sharing is a process by which confidential, sensitive, or proprietary documents and content are transferred electronically between two or more computing systems over a computer network. It is essential for ensuring content confidentiality, integrity, and availability in manufacturing and other sensitive industries, as it enables users to access and share important information with trusted parties.

Secure file sharing ensures secure exchange of information between two or more individuals or businesses to prevent unauthorized access, a data leak, or compliance violation. It utilizes a range of capabilities and features and enforces processes and protocols Some secure file sharing solutions also offer a number of other benefits, including easy document collaboration, large file sharing, remote access to files and folders, and an efficient way to store and organize large amounts of content.

Content Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability for Manufacturing

Content confidentiality, integrity, and availability are the three key components of any successful secure file sharing system for manufacturing. Content confidentiality refers to the ability to keep any confidential documents, images, and other content secure so that only those with the right authorization can access it. Content integrity ensures that the data has not been tampered with and remains unchanged from its original state. Last but not least, availability means that the content is accessible when and where it needs to be and only available to those who need to view and edit it.

By implementing secure file sharing, manufacturing companies can ensure that their most sensitive information is kept safe and secure. They control who has access to the content and prevent its misuse. Additionally, companies can have confidence in the accuracy and reliability of their data as its integrity is constantly monitored and maintained. Finally, companies can easily collaborate with their colleagues, partners, and customers as the availability of the content is always guaranteed. Such safeguards allow manufacturing businesses to operate efficiently and securely.

Risks of Unsecured File Sharing

Unfortunately, in today’s globalized economy, “corporate espionage” has become a reality. Companies, and even countries, are actively trying to gain a competitive advantage over one another by stealing confidential information. China has been doing this for decades to manufacturing companies by hacking into file sharing systems to access intellectual property, blueprints, trade secrets, and confidential customer data. If a manufacturing company does not have an adequate secure file sharing system in place, all of this sensitive content can be easily exposed, resulting in competitive disadvantages, financial liability, and reputational damage. Therefore, it is incredibly important for manufacturing organizations to invest in secure file sharing solutions in order to protect their sensitive content from unauthorized access and ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data.

Other risks include:

1. Data Loss

Data loss is one of the foremost risks of unsecured file sharing in manufacturing, as it can lead to the loss of sensitive or proprietary content for any number of reasons. This could be a result of accidental deletion, malicious hacking, or unintentional exposure to third parties that have access to the system. Such risks could be minimized by implementing strong security measures such as user authentication and content encryption.

2. Lost Efficiency

Unsecured file sharing can also lead to a significant reduction in efficiency, as it can slow down system performance and result in wasted time for manufacturing employees. To maximize efficiency, manufacturers should ensure their network infrastructure is up to date and secure.

3. Noncompliance

Manufacturing companies are subject to a variety of regulations and standards and must adhere to them to avoid compliance issues. Unsecured file sharing could result in a violation of these rules and regulations, which can lead to significant penalties. It is important for manufacturers to review these laws and take appropriate measures to ensure compliance.

4. Increased Costs

Unsecured file sharing can lead to additional costs associated with security breaches, lost data, and other issues. To minimize this, manufacturers should invest in secure file sharing protocols such as SFTP and SSL. Additionally, they should regularly monitor their system for any suspicious activity and take measures to ensure content is backed up regularly.

Data Breaches in Manufacturing

According to the Netwrix Research Lab 2022 Cloud Data Security Report, 51% of manufacturing companies experienced an attack on their cloud infrastructure within the last 12 months. This is quite significant, based on the average cost per breached record as found by the 2022 Cost of a Data Breach report by IBM and Ponemon Institute—which hit an average of $4.35 million (up 2.6% from $4.24 million in 2021).

These breaches illustrate the importance of secure file sharing in manufacturing companies. Even when content is shared with trusted partners, the risk of unauthorized access can never be eliminated. Consequently, implementing stringent security measures such as multi-factor authentication, content encryption, and digital rights management (DRM) can help reduce the risk of data breaches.

Best Practices for Secure File Sharing in Manufacturing

Secure file sharing is critical for manufacturers, as it protects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive content. By implementing the following best practices for secure file sharing, manufacturers can protect their content from unauthorized access and ensure that their intellectual property remains confidential.

1. Understanding Your Content and Its Sensitivity

The first step in securing file sharing is to understand what type of content you are sharing and how sensitive it is. By categorizing your content and understanding the various levels of sensitivity, you can ensure that your content is properly protected. Additionally, understanding your content and its sensitivity will help you to identify potential security risks and develop an appropriate security policy.

To ensure that the content you share is secure and properly protected, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF). This framework is a set of guidelines and best practices that helps organizations identify, assess, and manage cybersecurity risks.

NIST CSF categorizes content into five core functions, each of which outlines specific security processes and controls. This can help you understand your content and its sensitivity, with each function informing the choice of security measures to ensure that the content remains confidential and secure. Additionally, the NIST CSF can help define areas of content sensitivity and better prioritize the security of your file sharing operations and processes. As such, the NIST CSF is an invaluable tool when it comes to secure file sharing for manufacturing to guarantee the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive content.

2. Identifying and Assessing Potential Security Risks

Once you understand the content that you are sharing and its sensitivity, you must then identify and assess potential security risks. Assessing potential security risks includes evaluating the threats and vulnerabilities associated with your environment—specifically, the systems and content on those systems. Organizations must also consider the security risks within their digital supply chain, the partners with whom they share sensitive information.

Developing a vendor risk management program will help. Organizations should determine the potential consequences of not taking adequate security measures, such as loss of data, unauthorized access, and financial damage. By assessing potential security risks, organizations can develop effective strategies to mitigate these threats and protect their data.

3. Developing a Comprehensive Security Policy for File Sharing

Once organizations have identified and assessed potential security risks, they can then develop a comprehensive security policy for file sharing. A security policy for file sharing should incorporate both technical and nontechnical measures to protect your data. It should also include guidelines for user access and content sharing, as well as procedures for monitoring and responding to security incidents.

4. Implementing Access Controls and User Authentication Mechanisms

Access controls are one of the most important measures for secure file sharing. Access controls limit the user’s ability to access and modify data. Additionally, user authentication mechanisms, such as passwords and two-factor authentication, can be used to ensure that users are properly identified and authenticated before they are granted access to the system.

5. Encrypting Content in Transit and at Rest

Encryption is another key component of secure file sharing. Encryption for secure file sharing will ensure that content is kept safe while it is in transit and at rest. Encryption should be applied to any content that is sent or stored outside of the company’s premises. Additionally, you should use secure protocols to ensure that content is encrypted during the transmission.

Manufacturers Achieve Secure File Sharing With Kiteworks

In most manufacturing organizations, private content is shared with a wide variety of external users via multiple communications channels—email, secure file sharing, managed file transfer, web forms, and application programming interfaces (APIs). This can create significant security and compliance exposure risks.

Secure file sharing is a requisite for manufacturers, and the Kiteworks Private Content Network (PCN) enables manufacturers to employ comprehensive governance and security. Kiteworks’ secure file sharing capability enables the exchange of sensitive content and files between users, organizations, and systems while preserving intellectual property. This protects against malicious cyberattacks from cybercriminals and rogue nation-states as well as helps enable adherence with and the ability to demonstrate compliance with regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), GxP, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Australia’s Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP), and other data privacy regulations and standards.

Manufacturers are assured their file and email data communication risks are minimized when using Kiteworks, which utilizes end-to-end encryption and a hardened virtual appliance. Kiteworks also complies with various industry standards, including FedRAMP Authorized for Moderate Level Impact, ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018, and SOC 2, among many others.

For more information on how Kiteworks helps manufacturers protect their sensitive content communications, schedule a custom demo.

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