At the One Canon Event 2018 held for press and analysts in mid-February, Canon Solutions America (CSA) unveiled two significant initiatives to address customers’ omnipresent concerns about device and document security. “Security is always a top-three concern for our customers,” said CSA President Peter Kowalczuk as he announced new partnerships with third-party security solutions providers Vera Security, Inc. and Agile Cybersecurity Solutions, LLC. The goal, he noted, was to provide “smart change” to customer environments through end-to-end solutions that move beyond MFP-centric device-level security.
“Building a perimeter around your organization to secure information is old-think. There are just too many ways for data to leave,” explained Ajay Arora, Vera Security’s CEO. “Our solution builds a perimeter around your data.”
The company’s solution focuses on document security by applying policies at the file level—policies that remain in force no matter where, how, or to whom the document travels. Whenever a document is created and saved to a Vera-protected network folder, cloud share (such as Dropbox), desktop PC, or mobile device, the Vera platform automatically encrypts it with military-grade AES-256 encryption and applies the desired security policy.
 |
| The Vera solution applies encryption and permissions policies to each file, so even if a document winds up in the wrong hands, its content can’t be accessed. |
At the heart of these policies is dynamic access control that dictates what the recipient can and can’t do with a file. Permissions can be set to control the opening/viewing a file, printing, editing, and copy/paste functions. When a recipient attempts to open a Vera-protected file, that user’s credentials are checked against the cloud-resident Vera database to see what permissions the user has for that file. If none are found, access is denied; if the user has read-only access but attempts to print the document, a message pops up indicating that they don’t have permission for that action; and so on. Notably, the Vera cloud never stores the file itself, only the “metadata” information indicating what policies are associated with the file.
CSA will roll out the Vera solution to its customers in three phases. Initially, CSA will resell Vera’s existing file-protection solution, which includes a server-resident software piece that intercepts email messages and scanned files that originate at the MFP and applies the Vera security layer. The server component can also watch designated network and cloud folders to apply security policies to files that arrive by any means, not just those that originate from a Canon MFP. This solution is available now to CSA customers, with pricing on a per-user/per-month basis.
The second stage of the rollout will be to integrate the Vera security into files processed through Canon’s uniFLOW and Therefore platforms. The ultimate goal is to have a MEAP applet resident on Canon MFPs (and scanners that support MEAP) that can apply the Vera protection without need for a server component. While there is no date set for these latter two phases CSA’s Kowalczuk did point out that Canon has an exclusive distribution deal in the printer/MFP space for the Vera file protection service for now.
To augment this robust file-level document security, CSA has instituted a referral partnership with Agile Cybersecurity Solutions (ACS). ACS provides a wide range of security consulting services, including vulnerability assessments, penetration testing to ascertain chinks in an organizations cyber armor, and incidence response if a breach has occurred. The company can also offer virtual CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) services, billed on an hourly basis as needed, for organizations that require some C-level support but that can’t justify the expense of a full-time CISO. ACS can also help a company with any certifications they may require, for example to meet HIPAA compliance or GDPR regulations.
Get the full scoop on what happened at the 2018 One Canon Event by clicking here!
