More Updates To WebDAV

Admit it—you don’t believe in file sync. And why would you? You need to have copies locally and in the cloud. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of using the cloud? (Yes it does). After all, file storage is not the same thing as file backup, and all sync does is provide file storage. So why not go with a more direct-to-cloud solution so that you don’t have to store your data on your local device if you want to use the cloud. In today’s business world, everything is about efficiency. That’s why WebDAV is one of the best file management solutions available—you have direct access to the cloud from what effectively acts like a local folder, without actually having to house anything locally. You don’t have to wait around to synchronize changes; you can make change in real time on documents that are actually housed on the cloud.

But there’s a problem with WebDAV - and that problem's name is security. But with the efforts at place within DriveHQ, security soon will not be a problem. DriveHQ, already providing the most complete enterprise WebDAV solution, has taken it another step up by allowing WebDAV users to use an encrypted folder feature. Effectively, you will be prompted for an encryption key any time you try to access data via WebDAV. With all data automatically encrypted in transit, this will allow you to keep files at rest in the cloud to also stay encrypted.

WebDAV has always been about convenience. After all, when you map a drive, you’re accessing the cloud through what functionally appears to be a local folder. The one thing WebDAV has always been lacking in is security. And that’s why we’re glad you found DriveHQ.

Our newest version of the WebDAV Drive Mapping tool will allow users to setup a mapped drive that takes advantage of our encrypted folder feature. As of now, there is a security feature attached with WebDAV—SSL encryption during uploads and downloads from the mapped drive. This new feature will allow all files uploaded via WebDAV to remain encrypted in the mapped drive folder. Currently, even with the encryption during transfer feature, files are decrypted as they are placed in the WebDAV folder.

What really makes this technology so impressive is that this has been a longstanding problem with WebDAV—which was not created by DriveHQ, but rather by Microsoft. The problem, of course, being that you simply could not securely use WebDAV in the same way that you can securely upload and download files with, say, FileManager.

Why the change?

Why not? We are dedicated to serving the enterprise. The enterprise has always demanded speed. WebDAV delivers that. The problem with enterprises is that many are much older than this technology, and implementation takes time. Not to mention, with how new this industry is, developers are working out the kinks on many cloud related offerings. Basically, what I’m getting at is we have been in a bit of a trial period, in the grand scope of this industry’s history, and we have discovered something: security is very easy to get around. And that is the longer answer to why we made the change. We’ve already optimized WebDAV to be the fastest and most efficient method of transferring files (based on a day-to-day workload). Now, it’s about making it even safer.

How?

Effectively, we will be taking the security of the Encrypted Folder feature, currently available through FileManager, and applying it to our WebDAV offering. So, what exactly is the Encrypted Folder then? Well, it’s fairly simple. A security key is generated on the user end, and is never transferred from the user end. That means that your files are encrypted before they are transferred, and remain encrypted while sitting in the Encrypted Folder. And what is the only way to decrypt them? With the key, that is held locally. Yep, you guessed it, that means even we cannot access your files. Colloquially, you may know this as “client-side encryption.”

What’s Different?

Besides better security is anything really different? The answer is no. The same WebDAV service that you have been using will not change as far as setting up the drive, or accessing the drive. You will still be able to use our WebDAV tool or our mapping URL if you prefer Windows Explorer.

Why You Should Get This

Do you have a lot of small files that you and many other coworkers access on a regular basis? If so, may be the solution for you. This is the most secure way of collaborating with many other users on files with direct and easy access.