CTERA Networks today announced a series of security and user experience enhancements to its CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform designed to fortify and simplify the enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) and endpoint backup experience.
The CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is a private cloud IT-as-a-Service platform for storing, syncing, sharing, protecting and governing data across endpoints, remote offices and servers. Deployed entirely behind the firewall leveraging any private or Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) infrastructure, the CTERA platform delivers the highest levels of information security, data privacy and data sovereignty demanded by today’s enterprises.
The newly announced product enhancements to CTERA’s endpoint services are the byproduct of CTERA’s collaboration with leading financial institutions, multinational companies, government agencies and service providers. The enhancements underscore CTERA’s focus on meeting and exceeding the requirements of the world’s most security-conscious organizations that cannot implement public/shared SaaS solutions.
Among the dozens of updates to CTERA’s endpoint solutions, the following represent the major highlights:
IT Security/Administration
- Native mutual authentication with support for smart cards/client certificates. Developed for military application as part of the DoD/DISA storage modernization contract with WWT, the CTERA platform now enables end-users to mutually authenticate themselves using government-issued Common Access Cards (CAC). This military-grade multi-factor authentication process provides additional assurance that only intended DoD users can access and share files.
- Enhanced data loss prevention (DLP) capability. New external file sharing and collaboration functionality reduces leakage of sensitive data by enabling IT administrators to:
- Disallow external file sharing with specific domains according to an IT-defined security policy based on user profiles or groups
- Offer a preview-only method of file sharing, where users cannot download, print, or copy certain files shared with them
- Mitigate the risks of document screen capture by displaying the recipient’s name as a watermark on the document preview
User Experience
- A redesigned, highly intuitive mobile app. CTERA Mobile is now five times faster and supports mobile editing of files. Files and photos are now natively stored directly into CTERA EFSS via any mobile application.
- Self-service migration between PCs and Macs. CTERA Endpoint Backup now offers a workstation replacement functionality that enables users to seamlessly migrate between different devices and operating systems without IT administrator intervention. A user can easily replace a Windows laptop, for example, with a Mac OS X laptop, minimizing the complexity of IT desktop support in a multi-OS environment. This functionality also ensures that contacts, calendars, email accounts, and more are placed in appropriate locations on the new machine.
- Expanded Mac integrations for improved user productivity now provides:
- Integration with OS X Spotlight to easily locate documents, images, and more
- Right-click backup and file sharing options
- CTERA Agent notifications displayed in the Mac Notification Center
- An automated product tutorial for first-time users of the CTERA Platform. The walkthrough helps users to become familiar with the CTERA interface and file management tools.
CTERA’s endpoint file services are WAN-optimized using source-based global deduplication and an “incremental-forever” backup and sync functionality, and feature end-to-end AES 256-bit data encryption both at-rest and in-flight where enterprises are the sole owner of their data and encryption keys. Data is stored in the public or private data center of choice to alleviate all privacy, security, and data sovereignty concerns.
“Security and user experience are equally paramount for CTERA, and we work tirelessly to ensure that our endpoint solutions offer the best of both worlds for our customers,” said Jeff Denworth, SVP Marketing, CTERA. “CTERA uniquely fills a void created in the enterprise market by public SaaS solutions that cannot offer total privacy, security, compliance, and ownership of organizational data. The enhancements announced today go beyond enterprise-grade to now military-grade, offering the industry’s most secure approach to file collaboration and data protection.”
