what's wrong with shared folders? should i use sharepoint?

@ Copyright 2016 Strategic Computing, Inc. All rights reserved

What’s wrong with Shared Folders?

Should I use Microsoft SharePoint?

@ Copyright 2016 Strategic Computing, Inc. All rights reserved

Chris Tsouris

@ Copyright 2016 Strategic Computing, Inc. All rights reserved @ Copyright 2016 Strategic Computing, Inc. All rights reserved

File Shares “But file shares are so easy and simple and we

save time by not having an admin or maintenance costs!”

Windows file sharing has been around since Windows for Workgroups 3.1, released in October 1992. It came with SMB file sharing support.


SMB The Server Message Block Protocol (SMB

protocol) allows client applications to read and write on a network.

Using SMB, an application can access files at a remote server.


Enter Ransomware One of the biggest data security threats,

CryptoLocker is a malicious application that encrypts files and makes them unusable unless an unlock key is paid for.

CryptoLocker will encrypt local and SMB connected file shares that the user has access to.


From the Case Files An organization was hit by CryptoLocker and

was unprepared. The ransomware infected one of their client

machines. The user disregarded the warning screen. IT department was unaware of the situation. A large shared drive was mapped to the client

machines on start up. Cryptolocker infected the shared drive from

this user’s machine over the network using SMB.


The Situation Complaints from other users ultimately led to

the identification and disconnection of the infected PC.

However, the ransomware timer had by then expired!

Ransom could no longer be paid and files could not be decrypted.


Backup to the Rescue!? Backups of the shared drive existed and a data

recovery was initiated. Backups of the files that were older than the

infection date were fine. Backups since the infection occurred had

encrypted files. Recent content, including current working files

were unusable. A very sad state of affairs. Extreme? But probably not isolated.


What does this have to do with SharePoint? SharePoint does not rely on SMB file shares. Content stored in SharePoint cannot be

accessed by malware via SMB. SharePoint can be configured with anti-malware

to detect infected content upon creation or modification.

If an encrypted file got into SharePoint. It would be isolated.

Ransomware does not have a connection to SharePoint. It cannot iterate a directory and encrypt more files.


Last but not Least

SharePoint allows for versioning of content.

The latest good version of the encrypted file can be restored.

Not all is lost.


Should SharePoint Replace File Servers? The simple answer is no. SharePoint is not a good file storage solution for

all scenarios.

Files that are very large, archival or largely unchanging are not the best candidates for SharePoint.


File Storage is not File Collaboration File storage is not the same thing as file

collaboration.

Shared drives that are used for document collaboration are best replaced with SharePoint.

SharePoint provides a better collaborative environment with features like: check out, check in, versioning, publishing, approval flow and rich enterprise search.


Thank you Chris Tsouris is the president of

Strategic Computing, a Denver based Microsoft Partner founded in 1993.

[email protected]

http://www.scicomputing.com/

what's wrong with shared folders? should i use sharepoint?

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