How to configure a Document Management Software security

Security, privacy and confidentiality are so important to our clients and our reputations so how can I ensure who see’s what?

In an ever-growing world where sharing is more and more digital whether it be between you and me or you and the whole world, that’s the wonders of todays technology.

You can use email, chat servers, text messages, local area networks and many more, with so many options available it means connecting with one or many is so easy now.

It is no wonder that security is talked about a lot, yes it is important to share a photo with family members and friends and of course you don’t want everyone to see that. However imagine it is your personal details like your bank account information, health records even where you live. These are extremely important also imagine if you are in control of those details of others too, that is a lot of information to control.

Luckily when it comes to a website your normally covered when you enter your details by vast encryption protocol’s like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). However what about software in which you store and control the distribution of files and data?

That kind of sotware is called Document Management Software and is a key tool in order to ensure document and information security in any organization.

Here at Docuo we have tried to simplify the security setup and management of files, users and collaborators right down to the ability to see, edit, and download a file.

Here I want to show you some simple yet effective ways to set up some basic security settings in Docuo.

Seting up security for user and collaborator accounts

Lets start with who will have access to the software. In the user properties window, the one you use to create new user accounts, you have several security options:


Here you can,

  • Halt their account immediately
  • Force them to change their password
  • Make them always log out so they must enter their password every time
  • You can view all the activities they have performed
  • See any individual permissions set up
  • You can also restrict access from specific IP addresses

This is all done in the user and collaboration creation screen and is incredibly easy to perform by any administrator or any user with the given permission to do so.

You can find out more about user management here and collaborator management here.

General security settings and password complexity

Now lets explore some more broader setting on user and collaborator security mainly around passwords.

In the settings area of Docuo which can be found here:

 

Here you will be shown more options:


So from this area you can for example,

  • Ensure a password can expire
  • Enter the number of blocked minutes that the user has to wait when entering the password incorrectly, if you leave it empty it will not be unlocked until you recover with the option “forgot your password?” from the login window
  • Create complex passwords

This two features allow a strong control over the users who have access to the software. You can find out more information here.

If your company has a domain server (Active Directory) it is also possible to configure Docuo to use the same user and password that you use every day at work to enter Windows. You can get more information here.

What about the files? Permissions in folders and categories

Even though you decided who you wish to have access to the software you may not want some users seeing what others can. For example, you may want information from a colleague in Hong Kong but you don’t want them to see the information supplied by another colleague in London, this is where you set up specific permissions for folders.


Here is the folder permissions for “Honk_kong” which you can access through the folder manager options (more information found here) As you can see you can set specific permissions for users and collaborators including any groups set up.

You can choose if they can:

  • View
  • Create
  • Modify
  • Delete
  • Publish
  • Manage the folder
  • Manage the permissions

So you can completely control all the activity what happens in each specific folder. You can also set up email notification for any of these changes so you are completely up to date. Each subfolder will “inherit” the permissions of its parent folder so you do not need to reapply the setting for a new subfolder.

So there you have some of the basic security set ups for Docuo, you can also apply permissions to categories including who can access and who can move along states and you can also view the activity of all documents that have been shared.

So don’t panic Docuo has you covered for security so you can focus on the more important areas of your business.

As always if your not sure you can contact us at anytime to help you set up that perfect structure!

See you in the cloud!

James Storey