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A quick question for all readers: how secure are your files?
You know how interested we are in maintaining the quality of your documents. You work hard to make them excellent in the original language, and our chief goal is to preserve that excellence in every language. Yet there’s more than quality to be considered. How’s your security?
We’re sure you don’t need reminding about the dangers inherent in sending information from one place to another. Mail deliveries can be intercepted. Phones can be tapped. E-mail accounts and websites can be hacked. We necessarily blind ourselves to a certain amount of risk, usually quite minimal, when we exchange files over the Internet – after all, if we don’t take the risk, we don’t communicate. Yet your business documents require more attention. You shouldn’t send your sensitive communications out blithely into the world without protection, even if the chance of the wrong person receiving them is practically nil. Practically is not certainly.
Obviously, if those sensitive communications need to be translated, you must send them out. How can you keep them safe? Document security practices must originate on your end; we’re eager to know what they are, and will work to incorporate them into your translation project procedures, but we can’t establish them for you. However, we do have some thoughts… you probably won’t need to be reminded about these, either, but they bear repeating!
Back up your material frequently – This one truly speaks for itself. If you’re hacked, or if your system is compromised in any way, from a virus or trojan to force majeure, you need to have your content stored elsewhere. That’s just common sense. Having more than one external backup location is advisable. Consider storing backup copies of your files on external hard drives and in one of the several cloud-based storage spaces available, always bearing in mind that the cloud has its own security needs and issues to take into account.
Transmit with care – E-mail is easy, quick and efficient, but it’s far from ideal. Explore different channels for file delivery; whichever path your choose, we’ll meet you in the middle. Cloud storage solutions (like Dropbox) allow users to connect their spaces together, and make files available to each other without going through e-mail. FTP offers more security, in exchange for a more intensive setup. If you use a CMS to handle your files, consider giving the translation team access to it, so we can come to the files rather than have them come to us. And, of course, there’s the Language Portal.
Encrypt where needed – Many productivity suites give you the option of encrypting the content you create, be it through a way as simple as locking a document with a password, or by more sophisticated means. Take advantage of this option as required.
Limit access – Don’t let anyone touch your content who doesn’t need to. If your information is sensitive, every computer it’s reached and every pair of eyes it’s passed under renders it more vulnerable.
Communicate your security needs – This part is where we come in, and includes all of the above. Do you need your files accessed in one way, and in only one way? Let us know. Do you need your documents translated by resources with specific backgrounds, skills and/or security clearances? Tell us, and we’ll connect you with them. Some clients, like those in the government, present translation providers with detailed breakdowns of what they require from our security setup; so, we’re accustomed to adapting our process to high levels of security.
Don’t be shy about sharing your safety concerns with us. Take steps to protect your information… and make us part of the solution!
