Like that classic high school exam cliché, there’s nothing quite like starting a paper with the subject’s dictionary definition. You can consider that first paragraph banked. So, let’s check with our old friend Wikipedia, and see what it says about security.
Security is the degree of resistance to, or protection from, harm. It applies to any vulnerable and valuable asset, such as a person, dwelling, community, item, nation, organisation, or viral cat video.
Excellent stuff, Wikipedia! Once again, you’ve managed to deliver the cold hard facts with the sort of personality that Encyclopaedia Britannica never had.
That’s a very broad definition, however, and could be applied to the guard dogs that are leashed to the fence of that dodgy car yard just as easily as it could to the UN special envoy to war-torn Sudan.
realform’s definition of security is more closely aligned with the definitions used by those in the field of Information Technology, and those in the business of business. IT professionals have defined security as ‘confidentiality, integrity, and availability’, while business managers will more often refer to ‘protection of information technologies from accidental and intentional hazard’.
For realforms, with a foot in both the IT and business camps, our definition sits somewhere in the middle.
As far as the technology goes, the realforms platform needs to perform a balancing act. As an e-document service that is built around security and efficiency, realforms is required to be impenetrable from hazards, both accidental and intentional, without compromising on the availability of the service. Normal and authorised activity must be left to continue unimpeded, while irregular and unauthorised activity needs to be instantaneously blocked.
While realforms has the technology and systems to make this happen, convincing people that this sort of service provides a more secure and efficient way of doing things can be difficult.
Humans have a tendency to resist change. We can ignore the pitfalls of our current way of doing things, while simultaneously picking apart a newer, better option. So it is with a service such as realforms. Many will perceive a traditional, ink-on-paper signature as the most secure way to authorise a document when nothing could be further from the truth. As any 10-year-old who tried to skip school will be able to tell you, anyone (with a spare 30 minutes to practice), has the ability to forge a signature. What people can’t forge is an realforms encryption key.
realforms has a huge range of security measures that ensure your documents remain safe. Through encryption, certification, identification and tamper-proof processes, there has never been a more secure way to conduct your business.
So what’s realform’s definition of security? Availability without susceptibility. A foolproof system that simply allows the right people access to the right material.
Throw in the system’s natural efficiency and traceability, and that’s what realforms offers.
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