Evolving with the Workforce: New Security Features from Dell and Dropbox for Business

People at coffee shop using laptopsWe all know the importance of securing business data  in a connected world where data is the lifeblood any organization – regardless of its size or the industry in which it operates. And Tom Kendra, vice president and general manager of Dell Software Group, just shared here on Direct2Dell five best practices for that mobility security challenge.

The changing workforce means security can no longer be a function which closes off an organization to the outside world. Instead, organizations are looking for solutions which allow them to take advantage of new mobility offerings, while also protecting them from new threats specifically targeting employees.  

The explosion of data collection, mobile work devices and public cloud services is greatly improving office productivity, however they have also created a new range of security concerns for IT departments. 

One of these headaches is how businesses can retain control over critical data while enabling employees to freely use mobile devices and public cloud services.  One solution – which many businesses are increasingly turning to – is a single, turnkey solution which secures their devices and allows IT departments to retain ultimate control over their data.

This is why today we’re very excited to announce the further integration of Dell Data Protection | Cloud Edition into Dropbox for Business. The updates not only improve functionality for employees across a range of mobile operating systems, but also allow businesses to remotely wipe employees Dropbox accounts whilst also enabling one click sharing for employees while maintaining file level encryption

Some of the main functions now open to business include:

  • Control Now in IT Department’s Hands: The integration of DDP | CE with Dropbox for Business means organizations can use Dell Data Protection to remotely wipe a Dropbox account from the same centrally hosted management console used for all of their security needs. This means if an employee decides to leave an organization, accidently leaves a USB key in the wrong location or mistakenly sends data to the wrong address, businesses can be assured they have ultimate control over that data and can wipe it immediately before it’s seen by the wrong eyes
  • Simple, Safe and Available to Employees on the Go: The will also now allow Dropbox users to utilize one of the greatest productivity benefits of Dropbox – the one touch capability – while also maintaining file level encryption. This secure function will be available with members of user’s secure network, with the path to adding members to a network also being simplified for IT Departments. And for workers on the move, the updates mean that encrypted files will now be able to be opened through the Dropbox app on both Android and IOS devices.
  • Private Life Kept Separate: Finally, the updates will allow IT administrators to differentiate between Dropbox Business and Personal accounts allowing businesses to specify the documents which are encrypted. This means that organizations won’t accidently encrypt an employee’s holiday snaps, nor delete an entire personal folder should the business account need to be wiped remotely.

Dropbox for Business is one of the most used public cloud applications in the world, and has greatly improved the productivity of employees around the world. We’re very excited to be increasing our partnership to offer an even better experience for organizations, and for these advancements to join Dell’s seamless end user security suite which includes file-level and full disk encryption and advanced multi-factor authentication which allows organizations to embrace the evolving workforce.

The Dell Data Protection |Cloud edition with Dropbox for Business – with the new capabilities – will be available July 1 everywhere Dropbox for Business is sold.

About the Author: Brett Hansen

Brett Hansen is Vice President, Dell Unified Workspace. In this role, he is responsible for developing solutions that enable customers to simplify and streamline their client lifecycle, secure their endpoints, and ultimately provide users with a more productive and modernized workspace environment. With Dell Technologies uniquely positioned to deliver these solutions, Mr. Hansen harnesses capabilities from Dell Client, Dell Services, VMware and Secureworks to deliver integrated solutions spanning hardware, software and services. These technologies are optimized on Dell Client portfolio, but also embrace the multi-OS and device heterogenous environments of our customers, ultimately providing them with the choice, simplification, and productivity improvements they desire. Brett engages with customers, channel partners and product developers on a daily basis, leveraging his more than 15 years of experience leading business development and channel functions in the software industry. Brett joined Dell after 12 years with IBM Software Group. In his last position at IBM, he served as Director, IBM Tivoli Demand Systems Marketing where he held global responsibility for generating and managing the Tivoli pipeline.