What is IRM, and Why You Should Use It
Information Rights Management (IRM) is a combination of technologies that control and manage access to sensitive information or digital content. The reasons for using IRM are to safeguard sensitive data, prevent unauthorized access, and control how authorized users can use that information. Compared to password protection of files, IRM is more secure in that it uses user authentication and license/key management to protect against unauthorized access. IRM is particularly important for organizations dealing with confidential or proprietary data such as finance, government, healthcare, and education where protecting information from unauthorized access and distribution is critical.
Here are some features of Information Rights Management solutions:
- Encryption: IRM employs encryption techniques to protect sensitive and confidential files. This ensures that the data is secure, even if unauthorized users gain access to the file, since they cannot open it without the proper decryption keys.
- Copy Protection: Good IRM solutions provide mechanisms to prevent unauthorized copying of information such as dynamic watermarks and blocking of screen captures and copy and paste.
- Authentication: IRM systems integrate user authentication mechanisms, ensuring that only authorized individuals with valid credentials can access protected information.
- Permissions and Policies: IRM allows organizations to set permissions and usage policies on documents or files such as printing and offline access (downloading).
- Revocation and Expiry: IRM enables organizations to revoke access to files and set expiration dates for access rights. For example, if an employee leaves an organization, access to any protected files that the employee had in their possession can be revoked.
- Tracking: IRM allows organizations to track who has what protected information and when the protected file was accessed.
Sounds great, right? Indeed, if you or your organization handles or needs to communicate sensitive or confidential information, you should use IRM to protect it. However, common drawbacks of IRM solutions are that they are often complex and difficult to manage and use, and are often expensive, limiting their use to large corporations.
At 689Cloud, we aim to provide access to IRM to organizations of all sizes, and even individuals because the importance of protecting sensitive and confidential information is the same, regardless of the size of the organization. Our SecureDrive and SecureMail solutions are easy to use and affordable, making IRM accessible to all. Visit our Solutions Page for more information and a free trial.