EMC Syncplicity Secures Enterprise File Sync and Sharing

EMC has updated Syncplicity, its cloud-based file management and synchronization collaboration platform, with an eye toward safeguarding and easing the management of sensitive corporate information shared through email and mobile devices.

Acquired by EMC last year, Syncplicity is being pitched as an enterprise-grade alternative to popular consumer cloud services, such as Box and Dropbox. Unlike those file storage and sharing solutions, Syncplicity includes a hybrid mode that allows companies to keep files both on their own storage systems and in the cloud.

In a blog post announcing Syncplicity’s updates, Jeetu Patel, vice president and general manager of Syncplicity, calls email the "lifeblood of today's business environment."

“And as emails continue to fly, data security concerns continue to rise as attachments get larger, organizations reach globally and mobile devices become the tool of choice and convenience for communication,” he writes.

Syncplicity Shared Links allows for the distribution of files of any size through an email message with, a right-click of the mouse, generating a unique link to that file. A new Secure Send component of Syncplicity takes Shared Links a step further by providing end users and IT workers with control over who — inside and outside the organization — gets to view those shared files.

With Syncplicity Secure Send, employees can restrict recipient access to shared links, view who has downloaded shared files and require a password to open documents. It permits IT workers to enforce expiration timeframes for links, restrict recipient lists, compel the creation of passwords at prescribed strength levels and monitor or audit download activity.

For mobile devices, EMC has added support for Good Technology’s Good Dynamics mobile device management platform to Syncplicity’s iOS and Android apps. In a Good environment, the apps will now separate corporate data from employee private information and applications by keeping the former in a container compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).

This is a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) play on the part of EMC that also enables “IT to enforce policies such as applying application passcodes, device restrictions, and file actions to an approved set of third party apps in the Good ecosystem,” writes Patel.

Back in May, EMC simplified Syncplicity administration with the addition of federated identity management through Active Directory integration. It also now supports OneLogin and Ping Identity single sign-on. These allow for, among other things, real-time and automated provisioning and de-provisioning of Syncplicity accounts, based on centralized changes to Active Directory.