iOFFICE Will Support Data Encryption At Rest

Protecting our customers’ data has always been a top priority.

We know it’s not just names and numbers on the line; it’s about protecting privacy, relationships and reputations.

That’s why we’re taking a proactive step to maintain best-in-class data security standards by moving our customer data to Microsoft Azure cloud services, which will support encryption for data at rest.

In addition to adding another layer of data protection, the move will allow for faster data recovery, faster performance speeds during peak periods and greater compliance with data protection regulations.

If this is all Greek (or geek) to you, that’s OK. Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know.

What Is Encryption At Rest?

Unlike data in transit, which is actively moving from one network to another or being transferred from a storage device to the cloud, data at rest is standing still where it’s being stored.

Data in both states needs to be protected, and data encryption is one of the most common methods for doing so. Encrypted data has been translated into a code that can only be read by someone with a decryption key. With the move to Microsoft Azure, iOFFICE’s customer data will be moved from one secure data center in Dallas to another in San Antonio. Both centers have tight security measures in place to protect them from attack. In the highly unlikely event that a hacker manages to break into the new data center and access our customers’ data, encryption would render it unusable to them.

Why Is iOFFICE Making This Move?

Companies in highly regulated industries, such as finance and insurance, are already taking steps to adopt encryption at rest and other data protections to comply with new and anticipated laws requiring it.

One example is the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which states companies must take “reasonable efforts” to protect customer data.

This move allows us to be proactive about complying with current and future laws.

There are several other benefits, including:

• Greater redundancy in our resources, which protects customer data in the unlikely event of a disaster at a physical data center
• Faster performance speeds of our IWMS during data-intensive activities
• Better scalability so we can easily add large amounts of data as needed

The bottom line: moving to Microsoft Azure ensures we will continue to use best-in-class data security measures to protect our customers’ data.

How Will It Impact You?

Although the move has important benefits, it will have little to no visible impact for our customers.

Right now, customers are free to opt in to the new data center at any time over the next few months. We plan to notify all other customers and migrate their data by 2019.

Account managers will need to notify their IT departments about this migration, but it won’t have any impact on their business operations. The actual migration will take place over about a 30-minute period scheduled over the weekend or after-hours.

In the meantime, we’re happy to address any concerns our customers have.

If you have questions about this data migration or you want to get the process started early, please contact your account manager.