Data Governance For Google Docs

Fort Wayne Wire Die selects CloudLock for Google Docs to gain visibility and control of their corporate data stored on Goole Docs

Fort Wayne Wire Die has historically been the birthplace of technology that drives the wire drawing and wire die industries. From the first wire die manufacturing equipment and processes developed in the 1930s, to the ongoing engineering advancements that have marked the industry’s evolution ever since, Fort Wayne Wire Die has always stood at the forefront. Today, with four manufacturing locations, two additional sales offices and 19 more sales rep firms positioned around the globe, Fort Wayne Wire Die extends its uniquely historic wire die engineering and applications expertise to the world.

Business Problem

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Like many other organizations, Fort Wayne Wire Die decided to leverage cloud technologies to drive efficiencies, agility and collaboration. Though the company benefits from using Google Apps for email, calendar and document collaboration both internally and with external suppliers, the Finance Manager and IT team needed a way to gain visibility and control of their corporate data stored on Google Docs. Using the standard features in Google Apps, the domain admin has no visibility or control into how documents are being used and shared. This lack of visibility creates potential business and legal liabilities.

CloudLock

CloudLock for Google Docs is a Google Marketplace application, built on top of the Google Apps engine. The product provides IT Managers in companies using Google Apps with the same visibility and control they are used to having with their on-premise data.

“We migrated to Google Apps and Google Docs so we can provide enterprise messaging and collaboration in an easy and cost effective manner,” said Kevin Johnson, IT Manager at Fort Wayne Wire Die. “CloudLock for Google Docs provides us with the enterprise IT controls we are used to having with our network infrastructure.”

FWWD replaced four Exchange servers used to support a distributed workforce with their Google Apps subscription. “We love our Google Apps environment for its simplicity,” said Johnson. “I was looking for a security audit solution for Google Docs and found CloudLock on one of the Google forums.”

Auditing Document Usage and Permissions with CloudLock for Google Docs

With thousands of documents storing sensitive corporate and customer data, CloudLock provides granular audit capabilities for Google Docs including visibility into:

• Documents that are shared with anyone worldwide
• Documents that are exposed to people outside the company
• Documents exposed to ‘Everyone’ inside the company
• Usage and permissions of sensitive documents

“We wrote a policy to guide our end users on how to use and share Google Docs, but had no way of auditing what they were sharing,” said Johnson. “I now have a good feeling about our security – I know what’s being shared, when and with whom, even if a Google Doc begins its lifecycle from a personal Gmail account.”

Auditing User Access Rights with CloudLock for Google Docs

Having a document-centric view on security is just one part of the equation. CloudLock for Google Docs also provides a user-centric view on security to:

• Perform user entitlement reviews
• Track specific users in sensitive roles
• Audit user rights and ownership of documents before or after an incident

“I like the dashboard that shows public and private exposure, “ said Johnson. “80% of my concern is focused on accidental sharing of information and not malicious intent. I feel we are in really good shape now and I’m impressed with the ease of use and the elegance in developing a complex technical solution and presenting it in a simple-to-use fashion.”

Working with Data Governance Experts

“When we bought CloudLock for Google Docs we also bought into the domain expertise CloudLock has around Data Management and Data Governance, “ said Johnson. “We appreciate the approach CloudLock had taken in applying their expertise and lessons-learned in securing and auditing unstructured data on the network towards protecting data stored in the cloud.”