Manufacturing companies of all types, from industrial manufacturing to food manufacturing, need to renew their processes constantly to maintain their competitive advantage. They are increasing their efficiency and connectivity by automating work processes, business operations, and advanced communications systems – all vital steps to keeping up with competitiveness in today’s global economy. Unfortunately, such increased connectivity also leads to a variety of data security threats and attacks, that can hamper processes, halt production, damage brand reputation, and impose financial liabilities.

While a great deal of attention has been given to protecting companies’ electronic assets from outside threats, organizations are also realizing that the problem of data loss from the inside is an equally dangerous situation. In fact, in many manufacturing companies loopholes exist in the controlled, secure environment created to protect electronic assets. Companies today have shifted to the online method of managing their data and they use the Internet to communicate and transfer data, both within and outside the company network.

Data loss encompasses everything from confidential information about one customer being exposed, to thousands of files containing product details sent to a competitor. Whether deliberate or accidental, data loss can occur when employees, consultants, or other insiders release sensitive data about customers, intellectual property, finances, product plans, or other confidential information (in violation of company policies and regulatory requirements).

Depending on the type of manufacturing company, the industry falls under the radar of certain regulatory compliance including SOX, PCI, the EU directive, etc. While SOX aims to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the security laws, PCI is a standard compulsory for those companies that handling credit card information and consists of a set of guidelines which participating businesses must adhere to so that they ensure that correct measures are taken to secure all data, both internal and outbound.

Given today’s strict regulatory and competitive environment, Data Leak Prevention (DLP) is one of the most critical issues facing manufacturing companies. Organizations need to adopt appropriate processes and software solutions that will help them in preventing leaks, enforcing compliance, and protecting the company’s brand value and reputation.

Pawaa Software has addressed the above issues faced by the manufacturing industry, with the introduction of its patented innovations – pawaaWEBB and pawaaFILE.

PawaaWEBB is a powerful data protection software that helps the manufacturing industry to successfully secure their online data. The software goes beyond traditional authentication and access controls, and provides complete visibility into users’ behavior regarding how confidential and sensitive information is handled

By using pawaaWEBB, companies can enforce the same IT and security policies on both managed and unmanaged computers, whether they are within or outside the network, thus ensuring uniform security. The user can only visit the URLs that are permitted by the policy. Also hardware such as USB, Bluetooth, CD/DVD are safe guarded so that data leaks cannot be created while in the session.

Detailed logs follow the user’s activities such as applications launched during the pawaaWEBB session, clipboard activities, screenshots, bandwidth usage, print, URL clicks, etc. These are sent back to the server for audit trails, forensic analysis and report generation. Apart from monitoring and controlling user activities and the computer hardware, pawaaWEBB can also mask certain parts of the web pages for certain user groups without having to modify the back end applications and database.

PawaaFILE is a patented Intelligent File Format which is completely secure and addresses some of the basic security issues that exists with the normal file format. It fills several security gaps including the safety and control of the files downloaded from the web and the reports generated from web applications. Any file downloaded or reports generated from pawaaWEBB are automatically converted to the pawaaFILE format.

PawaaFILE provides the manufacturing industry complete control over files through its Information Rights Management policies. The policy maker of the company decides who can create the PawaaFILE, from which application, where it can be circulated, what type of authentication mechanism is required to consume the file, when it expires, Information Rights Management policies such as print, save as, edit, screenshot, time bound policies, and much more. So when a PawaaFILE leaves the organization accidentally or maliciously, it is of no use to unintended users outside the organization, or outside the organization's network, based on the policy. Only intended users can use the file, for the time allowed as defined in the policy.

The format of the pawaaFILE requires up to three keys to open the file, making it literally impossible for the hackers to break into it.

The combination of pawaaWEBB and pawaaFILE makes a powerful data leak prevention solution. Together they offer manufacturing companies an extremely high level of web and file security, while ensuring that the solution is practically usable. They also help organizations in being compliant with industry regulations.

Manufacturing organizations store a lot of information, both electronically and on paper. It could be personally identifiable information (PII) such as customer or employee records, proprietary corporate data such as financial statements or marketing plans, or intellectual property (IP) like product plans. This information represents the organization’s valuable assets that must be well managed and protected. Thus data leaks are not just an IT problem; they are a top priority business issue.

A complete audit trail is required, in addition to visibility on who is accessing the information and how the information is being handled. The files downloaded and reports generated from these applications should only be used by intended users, hence preventing any types of data leaks and compliance violations. Through this powerful combination, manufacturing companies can now,

PawaaWEBB and pawaaFILE help manufacturing companies secure their data without having to make major changes to their IT infrastructure or applications. Together they offer complete control, protection and freedom. Control over user behavior, Protection from data leaks and Freedom to enforce policies without privacy violations.