trust . . . in the fundamental model of policing by consent.” Nonetheless, police offi ?Àcers often need sensitive information to carry out their jobs, and delays in obtaining crucial information, due to unforthcoming members of the public, can effectively hinder a case.
Now that the police has moved its databases and systems to the cloud, it must ensure the data stored is, to begin with, stored for a justifiable reason, shared with authorised personnel only, protected from human error, closely monitored and encrypted should it fall into the wrong hands. How can the police achieve this when the public cloud, though not inherently insecure, cannot conclusively guarantee data protection?
Keeping the cloud’s streets safe
This lack of confidence in cloud security impelled iStorage, the award winning and trusted global leader of hardware encrypted data storage solutions, to develop a cloud data storage security solution – cloudAshur. The cloud Ashur hardware encryption module (your encryption key), which works with numerous cloud providers, allows users to encrypt data to ensure the ultimate lockdown of data stored in the cloud, share encrypted data with authorised users in real-time, and manage and monitor cloudAshur devices centrally. The cloudAshur can be used to encrypt data locally on a PC or MAC, as well as encrypt files shared via email or file sharing software that can only be decrypted with an authorised cloudAshur module.
To be a truly secure solution, it is imperative that the encryption key is stored away from the data. The cloudAshur hardware encryption module encrypts all data in transit and at rest with a FIPS certified randomly generated AES 256-bit encrypted encryption key, which is stored and protected within a dedicated iStorage secure microprocessor (Common Criteria EAL4+ ready). The cloudAshur grants the user full and secure control of the encryption key, thus protecting the data even if the cloud account is hacked.
Additional features of the cloudAshur solution include:
- A unique Five Factor Authentication
- Tamper proof & tamper evident design
- IP68 Certified (Dust & water resistant up to 1m)
- Secure and instant collaboration in the cloud
- Remotely disable or reset user cloudAshur modules if suspicious activity is noticed, impeding access to files stored in the cloud
- Monitor file activity
- Time fencing and geofencing
The police can benefit from the flexibility and cost reductions offered by the public cloud, but with this, they must also shoulder the responsibility of shielding sensitive data. The cloudAshur will finally provide the police force the control so very needed to ensure data privacy in the cloud, which is fundamental to gaining the public’s confidence and indeed becoming the most trusted police service in the world. iStorage is the trusted global leader of award-winning, PIN authenticated, hardware encrypted portable data storage & cloud encryption devices. iStorage offers the most innovative range of products to securely encrypt, store and protect data to military standards; safeguarding valuable and sensitive data to ensure compliance with stringent regulations and directives such as GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, NRC, GLB and DHS Initiatives. Today, iStorage products are used by government, military, multinational corporations as well as consumers in over 50 countries, with the mantra that encryption is an essential commodity required by all.