82% of all illicit data disclosure is caused by human error, according to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report. A way to cut that figure is to reduce employee touchpoints and to do that, organizations are turning towards automated workflows like the ones found in GoAnywhere MFT, a managed file transfer solution (MFT). Goanywhere MFT is the all-in-one solution that streamlines your file transfer process while using encryption, custom policies, and automation to keep your data safe.
Essentially, a secure file transfer solution centralizes how you exchange information with others by letting you create, schedule, monitor, and process sent and retrieved files from an easy-to-use, browser-based interface. And every automated workflow included in an MFT solution not only cuts down on accidents, but on time, wasted resources, and eventual breaches.
Human Error Leads to Data Breaches
Human error results from variance – deviation from safe, tested practices due to neglect or ignorance of those practices in the first place. To lessen the margin of error, you would need to ensure the same policies were followed to the letter every time - with no mistakes. This is particularly hard, considering:
- Nearly half of US workers trust public WiFi hotspots
- One in two workers shares employee-issued devices among family and friends
- 58% of organizations report that employees ignore cybersecurity guidelines
- “123456” is still the most commonly used password as of a recent 2021 study
- 52% of people reuse the same password over multiple accounts
Misdelivery is one of the top five causes of data breaches according to Verizon’s 2020 DBIR. While the demand for cybersecurity awareness training is skyrocketing, a huge contributing factor to whether the changes will stick is the ease of use. Employees may ignore security guidelines when the demands are too strenuous, inconvenient, or slow down efficiency. It’s easy to pretend and say, “I’m pretty sure nothing will happen” but it will be harder to email your colleague, client, or boss and say, “I’m sorry, but I was unable to get you the files in time because I went through a long and tedious process required by our security bylaws.”
To gain security adoption, safe processes need to satisfy the demands of the business and not create additional friction. They need to not only do the job securely, but somehow better and more efficiently, than they were done previously. And they need to be done the same way every time. While this may seem unattainable (or even unreasonable) for humans, it isn’t for technology. And that’s where automated workflows come in.
Using Automation to Do What Humans Can’t
A secure Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution relieves the burden of ensuring that each manager, department, and new hire knows and observes the company’s file transfer process (if there is one). It means you can remove tedious manual processes and legacy scripts from the file transfer equation and not only save time but be safer for it. And, an automated file transfer solution provides the following benefits:
- Multiple deployment options
- Audit and compliance support
- Strong security controls
- Ease of integration with internal apps
- Automated workflows
Once the automation schema is in place, the SFT solution executes the workflows that really form the spine of the secure file transfer process.
On the ground level, GoAnywhere allows you to create “Projects” that contain different tasks which ultimately comprise your workflows. There is no limit on tasks, and “a Project may include a task to retrieve data from a database server, a second task to convert the data into an Excel document, a third task to encrypt the document, and finally a task to distribute the encrypted document to an SFTP server,” for example. You design them in a browser-based interface, and they’re stored in a central database, ready for execution by any authorized party.
Workflows: Replacing Error with Efficiency
Automated workflows not only make the process less error-prone but eliminate the need for old approaches like clunky manual methods and legacy scripts. Things run safer and smoother. The whole complicated process is streamlined from start to finish, tracked via audit and activity logs, and encrypted to deliver your data safe and intact.
Plus, workflows can be constructed quickly and made to combine both manual and automated tasks, customizing them to fit your organization’s particular needs. And once built, workflows can be run back-to-back to maximize efficiency even further. From an objective standpoint, automated workflows could be used for their time-saving value alone. But their primary function is to deliver files swiftly and securely, without you having to reinvent the wheel every time, and to that end, here are a few ways in which they do that:
- Create projects with little to no programming skills. This is a great way to leverage the cyber talent you already have and not have to go searching for niche experts during a cyber talent crisis.
- Configure advanced workflow resources. GoAnywhere connects with over 20 different resource types, and the best part is, when something needs to be changed it can be fixed at the resource level. That way, you skip the nightmare of hunting down where native scripts were used, and the changes will trickle down through every instance from there.
- Automate file encryption. Workflows can be designed to automatically encrypt and decrypt files using the open PGP standard. No more choosing the wrong key or awaiting errors in the digital signature or verification process.
- Customize with conditional statements. This is a way to increase job control throughout your projects. You can chain Advanced Workflows together that will just continue to run if the previous conditions are met. You can get granular control of the “if/then” scenarios and take a load of mundane security tasks off the shoulders of your security team, or worse, your less-than-security-expert employees.
- Monitor files for security events. GoAnywhere’s Advanced Workflows can monitor for certain security events, such as files that are created, modified, deleted, or just there. You can monitor by location or search the SFTP, FTPS, or FTP resources you have access to.
Automated workflows not only make the whole file transfer process safer but are designed for immediate deployment by the security team you already have on board. They continue to reduce the margin of error with granular monitoring and policy control and allow you to schedule large batch transfers and regular file movements in advance. And they can be triggered whenever the file monitor detects changes to the files in the target folders.
This is about establishing and maintaining responsibility over your security environment by taking as much of it as possible out of employees' error-prone hands. A secure file transfer solution that reduces friction is needed to present an option that not only can work but can relieve employee stress.
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