Customer Case Study – Service Provider: Storing Sensitive Data in The Cloud

S&M Cloud, part of the multinational S&M Services and Systems Group, provides cloud services to the world’s leading companies. Their challenge was to support their customers, medical organizations in particular, moving large amounts of personal and sensitive data to cloud storage. An earlier system was not reliable, and difficult to manage.

Although cloud storage provides high levels of availability and durability, S&M Cloud needed a way for customers to access data readily from their desktop. S&M Cloud also needed a solution that supported GDPR, that included appropriate security controls including fine-grained access, auditability and encryption.

Additional criteria for S&M Cloud included support for multiple clouds, ability for a tenant-based architecture to reduce support costs, and the ability to migrate data easily between on-premise and cloud storage.

USE CASE AND SOLUTION

S&M Cloud has provided their customers secure access to cloud storage by coupling IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS) with the Enterprise File Fabric platform from Storage Made Easy.

Medical data is stored safely and securely within the IBM cloud. Users access data securely from their desktop using a network drive, the web, and from mobile apps through the File Fabric, a multi-cloud control layer for on-premises and cloud storage. 

 

RESULTS AND BENEFITS

Cloud Drive – Users are able to access all their cloud storage as if it was a network filesystem. They can use their existing desktop tools such as Microsoft office, and even manage cloud storage through Windows, Mac or Linux file explorers.  Desktop tools and a sync capability are also available.

Low Maintenance – S&M Cloud runs the File Fabric in a multi-tenant environment with the flexibility to move to dedicated servers as needed. Customers are able to configure and manage the platform and storage themselves with minimal training.

Open Architecture – File Fabric stores files as objects. It doesn’t use proprietary names or storage like other services. As a service provider S&M Cloud likes that they are able to easily add additional services and clouds to the platform.

GDPR Data Security – The solution exceeds S&M Cloud’s security requirements for GDPR compliance with FIPS validated AES 256 encryption, detailed audit logs, geo white listing, single-sign on, and tenant-specific security policies that customers manage themselves.  A data discovery monitor takes action in real-time if personally identifiable information (PII) is uploaded.

Loss Prevention – The File Fabric provides a number of features to thwart accidental and malicious loss of files. In additional to a familiar NTFS-like permissions, the platform supports versioning, trash, and a real-time sync to a secondary service. A deep content search is invaluable in locating files that aren’t where we thought they were. White listing, and digital water marks further protect documents.

 

You can download the PDF version of this case study here.

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