People are increasingly embracing the PDF format now that software has been developed to make it easier to use. PDF converters and printers are now more widely available than ever before. However, there is still a great deal of misunderstanding regarding how and when to utilize PDFs. Secure cooperation in relation to various PDF file-sharing tools is much more questionable.
The Perils of Password-Protected PDFs: Secure Collaboration Best Practices
You probably handle a lot of private, sensitive information, no matter what sort of non-profit you run. A data breach at your not-for-profit might jeopardize your organization’s integrity and harm your reputation.
A board portal is your solution to safe cooperation as well as running an effective not-for-profit organization.
What’s the Big Deal About Document Security?
Protecting access to your papers, stopping them from being changed, and preventing them from falling into the wrong hands are all part of document security.
- Most people think of the following security measures:
- Password security
- Watermarking
- Document expiration dates
Copy, print, and sending are all restricted under digital rights management.
monitoring of document viewers
These tools are a good place to start when it comes to security, but not-for-profit board members should be aware that they aren’t perfect.
It was easy to recognize the advantages of the PDF format once people were accustomed to it. Even if the document appears the same on a screen, PDFs allow individuals to see and trade documents in environments other than the ones in which they were generated, viewed, or printed.
Many individuals believe that just changing a document from Microsoft Word to PDF provides complete protection. While this is a frequent misconception, it is not correct. By using a PDF editor, anyone may simply modify the text, layout, page order, and a variety of other things. That is something that your board should be very concerned about.
Not-for-profit boards that are more concerned about security may assume that setting a password is sufficient to secure their information. That might be true or false. Not-for-profit board members should be informed about what passwords do and don’t do to safeguard their organizations. Another disadvantage of using passwords for security is that they do not allow you to offer granular access to documents. Your paper can be seen by anybody who knows the password.
Basic password protection is enough for controlling basic permissions, but it is far from secure. Someone with the correct tools and knowledge might simply assault your data and get unauthorized access.
Getting a Better Understanding of File Sharing and Internet Security
A basic understanding of file-sharing and online security in general may be beneficial. When you visit a website that begins with “https,” you will come across certificate security. The “s” at the end of the “http” indicates that the website you’re visiting employs SSL encryption, which is based on certificates, to prevent anyone from monitoring or interfering with it.
Many companies have realized that file-sharing programs, even well-known ones like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft Azure, aren’t as safe as most users believe. Only after some organizations were hacked and faced public humiliation as a result did they take steps to limit how their staff shared papers and other sensitive information.
If your non-profit relies on publicly available file-sharing applications, keep in mind that these programs were created with the general public in mind. They function as intended, but they were never created with the goal of safeguarding highly private corporate data.