Secure External Document Sharing – securely share & distribute PDFs

With password based systems such as Adobe PDF password protection users can share both documents and passwords with others.  So PDF password protection does not ensure secure external document sharing or enable secure document distribution since it cannot prevent documents from being shared with unauthorized users.

Locklizard use public key technology with a secure and secret key transfer mechanism so that keys are never exposed to users and interfaces where they can be readily exposed.  Document keys are locked to authorized devices within a keystore, so if the keystore is copied to another device it will fail to work.  This security mechanism stops users sharing protected documents with others and enables you to securely distribute documents without fear of them being passed on to unauthorized parties.

Ensuring that documents expire after a certain period of time or use can be an important part of secure document sharing, secure document distribution, and limiting document use.  Controlled documents can have fixed end dates so they stop being available automatically – so stopping access to them does not have to be administered manually.

Locklizard enable you to securely distribute documents that automatically expire:

• on a fixed date
• after a number of days use
• after a number of views
• after a number of prints

So you have full control over how long your protected documents can be viewed and printed.

Generally where controlled shared documents are searchable there is no requirement to allow paper copies to be made and by default printing is disabled.  Disabling printing is an important aspect of secure document distribution as it ensures printed copies cannot be made available to unauthorized users.

However, if you want users to be able to make printed copies then you can:

1. limit the number of high quality prints allowed
2. enforce color documents to be printed in black & white or grayscale
3. log each time a document is printed (see when and where your protected documents were printed)
4. watermark printed content with user identifiable information (using dynamic watermarks that insert user and system information at print time) to discourage photocopying and subsequent distribution

Locklizard automatically prevent printing to file drivers so that users cannot print to unprotected PDF files and other digital document formats.

Locklizard automatically locks document use to devices so they cannot be shared.

Only authorized devices can view protected documents.

This enables you to tightly control document sharing since users have to share a physical device (thier laptop) unlike secure file sharing sites where they can easily share login details with others.

The introduction of personal tablets (BYOD) into the work place has required a change to controls to make sure that documents that can be used in the workplace cannot be used from other locations, although they must continue to be available from the right location(s).

Locklizard protected PDF documents are able to implement controls such as country locations and the range of IP addresses that they may be used on, allowing shared documents to be restricted to corporate networks, as well as requiring the validity of the license to be checked with each use.  You can restrict location access on a global and user basis enabling tight control over secure document sharing with third parties, ensuring secure document distribution policies are adhered to.

There may be occasions when you want to see if a document you have distributed securely has been viewed and/or printed, and where, when and how often this occurred.

Locklizard enables you to track document use so you can identify any suspicious activity and instantly revoke access if required.

There are going to be times when you have distributed documents that are no longer valid, users have left a company, or contracts with third parties are no longer active.  On these occasions both documents and users will need to be revoked so that document access is no longer possible.

Locklizard enable you to instantly revoke access to documents for all or individual users, or revoke user access to all or individual documents in one go.

Being able to revoke access is an important feature of secure document distribution since it ensures you retain full control over user’s access to documents regardless of where they are located.