REVIEW: Workshare: Keeping Documents Confidential

Most efforts in the security arena go toward keeping the bad guys out of the network. A threat that Workshare Protect 5 is looking to reduce and prevent, however, is the insider threat.

The biggest source of information leaks and corporate espionage comes from trusted employees. Making the situation worse is that today's managers now also have to play the role of the suspicious investigator. Enter Workshare Protect 5, which aims to remove managers from the investigative requirements and use technology to act on suspicious intent. What's more, the product helps to combat accidental leaks, as well as intentional data theft.

Workshare Protect 5 accomplishes these chores by monitoring electronic correspondence to prevent sensitive data from leaving the company. One of the primary tools offered by Workshare is the ability to remove meta-data from documents. Meta-data is the hidden information found in files, such as corrections, document chains, authors and so on. Most businesses do not realize the amount of information that may be hidden in a document's meta-data and inadvertently let the information slip through the cracks. While there are other tools on the market that perform the same task, such as the "remove hidden data" add-on for Microsoft Office, Workshare is automatic and can be customized to remove only certain elements. What's more, the product offers full tracking and reporting when it comes to managing meta-data.

Workshare also adds content filtering, discovery and alerting for further company data protection. Other features include the ability to scan the system for identity information (such as credit-card numbers or passwords), offensive words, financial information, intellectual property and regulatory violations. That capability helps Workshare become a valuable ally in the world of compliance, where fines can far exceed the costs associated with prevention.

How does Workshare Protect 5 accomplish all this? Simply put, the product is a client module that runs on a desktop system. Administrators opting for the enterprise version can create policies that dictate what information is allowed to leave the system The software then scans for confidential information (very handy for notebooks that travel) and the policies offered are granular, in the respect that documents can be controlled as to which user can see the information and to whom it can be forwarded. '