The Current work from setup uses a VPN connection to connect to the local server for accessing data. Once accessed, the further transactions of such accessed data remain unknown. E.g. an employee downloads a business-critical document from the server, he may further send it using any webmail or file-sharing application that cannot be controlled as the user is away from the organization’s secured network and security policies that remain unimplemented in such a setup.

The other common setup is to use cloud-based web applications services like G Suit, One Drive where the data is stored and transferred over the cloud. While this works for getting the work done, it messes with Data Security efforts of the cybersecurity team. This is with the possibilities of their employees creating a Shadow IT by saving copies of important document in their own drive applications or sharing it unlawfully using their personal Email that cannot be controlled.

How do we address this major challenge?

To help curb this challenge we address it with the help of the Enterprise Cloud Solution, a solution that enforces the roaming users, the now work from home users under the head office’s firewall irrespective of the internet connection type and create Context of all the network activity and log them too for future use and analysis while ensuring that the data security policies are being adhered to.

Once under the Head office’s firewall, the GajShield Firewall uses Contextual Security approach which is a revolutionary new way of approaching enterprise cybersecurity, which entails making data context the focal point of all security-related decisions and actions. But when we say contextual security, it does not mean just the contents of files or communications like chats, emails, and social media posts etc. What we are referring to is, in addition to these contents, it is important to scrutinize the context information surrounding the data and communications. Not clear what we mean yet? Here’s a simplified example:

As the year-end approaches, the internal accounting team of an enterprise would have just finished generating the annual financial report to be presented at an upcoming stakeholders’ meeting. The report has to be shared with the CEO so that they can verify the information and prepare for their presentation. The content, in this case, is clear -- it is the accounting data of the enterprise for the financial year, which remains constant. However, the context can change from case to case.

For instance, when the chief auditor sends this report the CEO using his official email ID using the enterprise’s internal network, with the recipient address entered as the CEO’s official email ID. In this case, the contextual data, that is the sender’s email ID, domain, IP address, device, and the recipient’s email ID, domain, IP address, e-mail body content and other related data show that the communication is legitimate and that there is nothing suspicious about it. This transaction is authorized and thus should be allowed and even expedited.

On the other hand, when the auditor sends the same report to, say, the CEO’s personal yet unofficial account, the contextual data, such as the recipient’s email address, domain, IP address, etc. are not standard, and maybe not even authorized by the enterprise’s cybersecurity policies as it is attempting to exploit enterprise’s data security policies. In this context, the transaction is illegitimate and should not be allowed for confidentiality purposes.

Thus even though the content remains the same, the context differs. And understanding this context is what data security is all about. GajShield’s Context-Based Firewall, by considering and evaluating these context, takes necessary actions that prevent both intentional and unintentional data leaks by enterprise’s remote working & roaming users by bringing them under the head office’s firewall, independent of network type to ensure a data safe environment.