Information rights management (IRM) player Seclore Technology released an update to its FileSecure solution, in the form of FileSecure WebConnect today. According to Vishal Gupta, the CEO of Seclore, FileSecure WebConnect is the world’s first browser-based IRM system, which facilitates access to protected content from within a browser sans a software agent. WebConnect is available as a separate add-on component to FileSecure.
FileSecure’s WebConnect release brings the current iteration up to version 2.7. According to Seclore, this is expected to remove two major constraints to the adoption of IRM systems in enterprises. The first is the need to download and install a managed client agent, which involves administrative permissions. The second aspect is elimination of restrictions on mobile based access. Over and above these, WebConnect brings the advantages of IRM to unmanaged devices as well.
Behind the scenes, FileSecure uses J2EE on the server side, and is mostly built using C/C++. Content is encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption as the default option. WebConnect is browser independent, and has been tested to work with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome as well as Opera. “In theory, WebConnect has been designed to work with any browser that supports HTML 5 and Javascript,” says Gupta.
WebConnect does not support offline access of IRM protected documents, nor is an offline-mode capability being planned, according to Seclore.
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WebConnect requires connectivity to the policy
server, to authenticate and secure rights to an IRM protected document. Previously, FileSecure
required a one-time connection to the policy server (as well as an installed agent) to secure
authentication for offline access of IRM protected content. WebConnect is expected to follow
Seclore’s existing annual licensing model, and is licensed separately from FileSecure. Being an
additional component, it will have to be purchased separately.
Added functionality like rich-editing capabilities from within the browser, are on the charts. Support is also being planned for cloud-based solutions like Microsoft’s Office 365 and Google Apps. Seclore plans six week update cycles for the product. “Our onus will be on upstream adoption of the solution, as opposed to a downstream model, where the guy on top decides what everyone in the value chain uses. A completely browser-based solution will change this,” says Gupta.