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blog Ethical Wall Microsoft Teams

Ensuring Secure Collaboration with SphereShield Ethical Wall for Microsoft Teams

In today’s interconnected business environment, protecting sensitive information and ensuring secure collaboration is more critical than ever. Whether you are part of a large enterprise, a school, or a small business, maintaining control over communication and data sharing is essential. This is where the SphereShield Ethical Wall for Microsoft Teams comes into play, offering robust information barriers and dynamic policies to meet your needs. 

Understanding the Ethical Wall 

The SphereShield Ethical Wall provides comprehensive control over who can communicate with whom within your organization, using specific collaboration options. It allows administrators to apply policies on both external and internal users and groups, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure, and that communication complies with your organization’s regulations. 

Key Features of the SphereShield Ethical Wall 

1. Dynamic Policies: 

With SphereShield, you have granular control over communication-based on groups, domains, and individual users. Policies are applied dynamically, adapting to the context of each communication, and providing flexibility and precision in enforcing rules. 

2. Granular Policies: 

SphereShield allows you to control various types of communication, including direct messages, file sharing, screen sharing, audio, and video. This ensures that your organization can tailor policies to specific needs and scenarios. 

3. Policy Scopes: 

Policies can be applied to different scopes such as chat, channels, and meetings. Depending on the participant type (employee, external user, or guest), you can customize the level of access and interaction permitted. 

Typical Policies Implemented by the Ethical Wall 

Here are some common use cases where SphereShield Ethical Wall enhances security and compliance: 

Preventing HR from sharing files with non-HR members: Protect sensitive HR information by restricting file sharing to HR-only groups. 

  • Blocking the Finance Group from uploading files: Ensure that financial data remains secure by preventing uploads to OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams. 
  • Allowing only Teachers to create new Teams: In a school setting, restrict the creation of new Teams to authorized staff, ensuring proper management and oversight. 
  • Blocking communications between finance and research groups: Maintain confidentiality and prevent conflicts of interest by blocking interactions between specific departments. 
  • Blocking desktop sharing for specific groups: Control the sharing of screens to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. 
  • Allowing specific users/groups to communicate externally: Manage external communication by specifying which users or groups can interact with outside parties. 

Common Problems Solved by the Ethical Wall 

The SphereShield Ethical Wall addresses several critical issues, including: 

  • Blocking file sharing across the Microsoft environment: Prevent unauthorized distribution of sensitive files. 
  • Protecting user privacy: Ensure that personal information remains confidential. 
  • Restricting third-party or outsourced companies: Manage the level of access and communication with external partners. 
  • Notifying participants about policy rules: Keep users informed about the communication policies in place to ensure compliance. 

Complete Auditing and Reporting 

SphereShield provides thorough auditing and reporting features, allowing you to monitor and obtain information on any violation attempts. This is crucial for training and raising awareness among employees about the importance of adhering to communication policies. Administrators can receive real-time notifications when incidents occur, ensuring prompt response and resolution. 

Simple and Powerful Management 

The SphereShield Ethical Wall offers a user-friendly web interface for configuring rules, making it easy for compliance administrators to set up and manage policies. Once created, rules are automatically implemented with minimal delay, ensuring that your organization always remains secure. 

Covering All Microsoft Teams Scopes 

SphereShield Ethical Wall for Microsoft Teams comprehensively covers all communication scopes, including chat, meetings, and Teams & Channels. This ensures that all areas of communication within Microsoft Teams are secured and compliant with your organization’s policies. 

Deployment Options: SaaS or On-Premise 

SphereShield Ethical Wall offers flexibility in deployment, available as a SaaS solution requiring no installation, or as an on-premise installation within your DMZ or cloud environment (Azure, AWS, etc.). This ensures that you can choose the deployment method that best suits your organization’s infrastructure and security requirements. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, the SphereShield Ethical Wall for Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool for ensuring secure collaboration and communication within your organization. With its dynamic and granular policies, comprehensive auditing and reporting, and flexible deployment options, SphereShield provides the control and security needed to protect sensitive information and comply with internal and external regulations. By implementing SphereShield, you can confidently manage communication interactions, prevent unauthorized data sharing, and maintain the integrity and confidentiality of your organization’s information. 

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eDiscovery

Boosting Risk Management and Compliance with Archive and eDiscovery 

Boosting Risk Management

Electronic communication forms the backbone of business operations. The proliferation of Unified Communications (UC) software, such as Microsoft Teams, has revolutionized workplace communication, offering unprecedented levels of connectivity and collaboration. However, this surge in digital communication also brings significant compliance and legal challenges, particularly for information-sensitive industries. This is where AGAT Software’s Sphereshield Archive and eDiscovery solution steps in, providing a robust mechanism to capture, store, and scrutinize electronic communications effectively. 

Understanding Archive and eDiscovery 

Archive and eDiscovery refer to the processes involved in preserving and retrieving electronically stored information (ESI). Compliance with legal requirements often necessitates the ability to discover ESI promptly and comprehensively during litigation or audits. For organizations leveraging Microsoft Teams, the capability to archive and perform eDiscovery on all forms of communication—messages, files, audio, video, and screen-sharing content—is crucial. 

Key Features of Archive and eDiscovery Solution 

Comprehensive Content Capture 

AGAT’s solution captures all communication content within Microsoft Teams. This includes: 

Messages: Text communications between users. 

Files: Documents and other file types shared within Teams. 

Audio and Video: Recorded meetings and calls. 

Screen Sharing Content: Visual information shared during meetings. 

This thorough capture ensures that no communication is missed, providing a complete repository of organizational interactions. 

Flexible Storage Options 

Organizations can choose where to store their captured data: 

On-Premise Storage: Ideal for companies with stringent data control requirements, allowing them to maintain physical data custody. 

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting: Provides a secure, cloud-based storage solution, combining accessibility with robust security. 

Advanced Search Capabilities 

The solution’s powerful search functionality allows users to filter and locate specific information quickly: 

Text: Search within the content of messages and documents. 

Time: Filter communications by date and time ranges. 

Users: Identify interactions involving specific individuals. 

Labels, Topics, Keywords: Use metadata and specific terms to narrow down search results. 

Incident Contextualization 

When incidents occur, having the full context of a conversation is vital. AGAT’s solution provides comprehensive conversation threads, enabling organizations to understand the complete narrative surrounding any incident. 

GDPR Compliance 

In adherence to GDPR requirements, the solution allows organizations to remove user information from the database, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. 

Benefits of Organizational Audits and Risk Measurement 

Enhanced Compliance 

By capturing and storing all communication data, organizations can demonstrate compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. This capability is particularly crucial during audits, where the ability to produce comprehensive communication records is essential. 

Risk Management 

The advanced search and contextualization features enable organizations to identify potential risks early. For example, monitoring communications for specific keywords or user interactions can help detect policy violations or emerging issues, allowing for proactive risk management. 

Activity Monitoring 

Understanding what users are doing within Microsoft Teams is pivotal for both operational oversight and security. The solution’s detailed logs and search capabilities provide insights into user activity, helping organizations to: 

Audit Communication: Review interactions for adherence to company policies. 

Identify Anomalies: Detect unusual behavior patterns that may indicate security threats. 

Measure Productivity: Assess how effectively Teams is being used as a communication tool. 

Conclusion 

AGAT’s Sphereshield Archive and eDiscovery solution offers a comprehensive approach to managing electronic communications within Microsoft Teams. By capturing all forms of communication, providing flexible storage options, and offering advanced search and contextualization capabilities, it enables organizations to meet compliance requirements, manage risks effectively, and gain valuable insights into user activities. For businesses operating in information-sensitive industries, this solution supports legal and regulatory adherence and enhances overall operational security and efficiency. 

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blog Ethical Wall File Sharing/Blocking Microsoft Teams

Mastering Information Barriers: Advanced Sharing Limitations in SharePoint 

Mastering Information Barriers

Ensuring secure collaboration while safeguarding sensitive information is paramount. Microsoft offers Information Barriers to control document access, prevent unauthorized sharing, and maintain data integrity. While straightforward scenarios are well supported, some cases allow users to communicate via SharePoint documents even when set to be blocked. 
In this blog, we will explain one scenario that is not covered by Information Barriers  

Let’s delve into a scenario where Bob and Alice lack permission for a document, but Jim has access and shares it, highlighting the effectiveness of Information Barriers. 

Understanding Information Barriers 

Information Barriers in SharePoint allow organizations to control communication and collaboration between different groups of users. By defining policies, admins can restrict access to specific content based on user attributes such as department, role, or team membership. This ensures compliance and prevents conflicts of interest by enforcing segregation of duties. 

While Microsoft Information Barriers offer some controls for access management in SharePoint, it’s essential to acknowledge their limitations. One notable gap is the potential for accidental access granted between restricted users and sensitive documents. This is due to MS Teams Information barriers policy setting being too broad, only having limited sharing control such as sharing with anyone, sharing with the company, shared with a group but it does not provide granular control. 

The Scenario:

A user can share a file with members of separate groups that are blocked from communicating with each other 

The Players: 

Jim: A senior manager with access to sensitive financial reports. 

Bob and Alice: one is an investor, and the other is a researcher, and they are set not to be able to communicate with each other. 

The Incident: 

Jim needs input from both Bob and Alice on a project that involves data from the financial reports. He decides to collaborate with them by sharing the relevant document on SharePoint. Giving them access to a document that they otherwise should not have. 

He shares the file with Bob and then shares the same file with Alice. As a result, Bob and Alice have a file shared that enables them to communicate and share info on it. 

The Solution 

AGAT’s Ethical Wall /Information Barrier Enforcement validates all the users that have access to file on any permission changes event. This is done in real-time blocking the communication between Bob and Alice as explained above  Despite the attempt to share, the restricted user will be unable to access the document due to their restricted permissions. 

AGAT Information Barriers ensure that sensitive or restricted information remains protected, mitigating the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches. 

Conclusion 

AGAT’s Ethical Wall/ Information Barriers in SharePoint provide advanced sharing options that enable organizations to maintain data integrity and confidentiality. By effectively segregating users and controlling access to sensitive content, businesses can foster secure collaboration while mitigating the risk of unauthorized disclosure. Implement Information Barriers in your SharePoint environment to bolster your data protection strategies and safeguard critical information. 

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