Enterprise data solutions specialist Varonis Systems announced the general availability of version 2.5 of DatAnywhere, its secure file-sharing solution.
With several enhancements to its encryption compatibility and strategic updates to the application structure and interface, DatAnywhere now makes it more secure and intuitive for an organization’s employees to update, share and access files from anywhere on any device, without the data leaving the security of the organization’s file systems.
DatAnywhere extends the usability of corporate file-sharing infrastructure to enable traditional file servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices to behave like a cloud-based service and is available for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android clients.
Over the past few months, Varonis has gradually released interface updates, online document viewers, and links for internal and external DatAnywhere users to make it easier to collaborate.
“User-friendliness is insanely important. The reason Dropbox has exploded in the consumer space is because it’s easy to use: You have a folder, you put stuff in it, and it syncs to all your devices,” David Gibson, vice president at Varonis, told eWEEK. “When we designed DatAnywhere for enterprises, we wanted to maintain that consumer-like user experience while providing enterprise security and scalability.”
The company has also made updates to the structure of DatAnywhere, giving users the ability to store stub files locally, manage syncing options for desktop clients and more.
Finally, with the release of version 2.5, additional enhancements to security features and encryption compatibility now make using the application to edit, share and access files more secure.
Highlights of the features available with the rollout of DatAnywhere 2.5 include the ability for DatAnywhere administrators to block the syncing of shared Workspaces with desktops on Mac and Windows computers.
“One of the biggest challenges we’ve seen is that large enterprises have petabytes of files in their data center that they now need to make available to their mobile workforce,” Gibson said. “They’ve invested millions of dollars in their storage and all the supporting services to keep those files backed up and secure, but those services weren’t designed with mobile in mind.”
He said that is the challenge Varonis designed DatAnywhere to conquer—to allow enterprises to layer mobile access, secure file transfers, and file sync and share on top of their existing infrastructure without making changes or moving data.
In addition, DatAnywhere administrators using a Windows device can now set and enforce settings, while Android devices now support displaying file contents in the DatAnywhere document viewer.
Finally, DatAnywhere now supports Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) servers that require Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption, and the DatAnywhere Windows client is now compatible with Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) encryption.
“I think you’ll start to see an evolution and standardization of services built around all file-sharing technologies—new and mature. These will include auditing and behavioral analytics, e-discovery, classification and governance,” Gibson said. “With so many high-profile data breaches, especially ones involving insiders, having appropriate controls and processes in place is vital to preventing and detecting abuse, and recovering from issues when they occur.”