If there’s one thing the internet has taught the business universe over its relatively short lifetime, it’s that information is valuable – so valuable, in fact, that there’s an industry built around securing digital information of all types. This week we’ve had the opportunity to speak with a company with a 16-year history in this market: IntraLinks. They’ve let us know what they do to provide a forward-thinking model for file and information sharing and collaboration in the future, complete with the ability to kick out what they call the “oops moment” when you’ve shared something by mistake – or if a file goes rogue.
IntraLinks was founded by security specialists in the banking world and created for the security of investment banking, strategic transactions, and large multi-million deals. The Company’s platform was created to secure – and continue to secure – the sharing of non-public information. IntraLinks’s SVP of Product Marketing Wade Callison let us know the extent of their business in basic terms: “$19 trillion dollars in financial transactions and services have floated across our cloud over the course of the existence of the company.”
That’s one whole heck of a lot of cash.
The company makes it their business to be the trusted third party between companies that want to connect securely. They do this with a scalable technology that has handled everything from Life Sciences clinical trials to investor reports. They’ve done so well that Gartner has rated IntraLinks as the leading vendor in the Team Platforms and Social Software Suites category based on revenue for the 6th year in a row.
“How does one “UNshare” a file?”
The Company’s newest product, IntraLinks VIA, launched last month and includes two major features that’ll allow it to be future ready and secure for the next generation. One of these features is a “Snapchat for the Enterprise”, the other – the ability to “UNshare” Your Files.
The “Snapchat for the Enterprise” function will allow you to set a self-destruct expiration date for your files, thus allowing you to keep a close eye on what’s visible to who and for how long. This as well as the UNshare feature work hand-in-hand to keep your files under your control.
UNshare is a feature that’s relatively new to the digital universe, appearing at first to be impossible due to the extremely fluid nature of the web and computers in general. However, IntraLinks VIA employs Information Rights Management with every document you share, allowing you to remotely revoke access to files at any time.
““If it’s something I’d rather you not forward, I’ll make it more difficult for you to forward.””
As Callison made clear: “The key is that the amount of control you need to put in place should reflect the sensitivity of the transaction. If it’s something I’d rather you not forward, I’ll make it more difficult for you to forward.” Digital watermarks in files shared with IntraLinks VIA apply themselves based on the location of the file, the name of the computer, the name of the person downloading the file, the time, the date, and more.
You’ll be able to set multiple passwords for the same file that only work on single machines. You’ll be able to block printing, block screen capture, block copy and paste – with many more controls on the way soon.
IntraLinks is currently looking at integration with a few vendors and a few key partners right this minute, aiming in the end to erase that crucial step between product availability and customers actually using the product. Taking away barriers for adoption for new users is a key point in getting them to proactively use the product’s features. Callison let us know that VIA’s mix of intuitive user interfaces and the deep security features under the hood are tackling this challenge. He said, “If you try to be another service that people need to think about to use, they’re not going to. Making the product an organic part of a user’s workflow is important.”
IntraLinks also aims to be a vendor that’s able to work with any company, pushing past the struggles that technology and security compliance present across the globe (and even inside companies themselves). With IntraLinks VIA, professional groups will be able to work with an extra layer of guidance and expertise that enterprise companies wouldn’t otherwise have. And with that, we’ll be share-friendly safe once more – and sooner rather than later!
IntraLinks VIA introduces the “UNshare” for information security is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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