M+E Connections

Protecting Data-Centric Information the archTIS Way

Barton, Australia-based firm archTIS, which offers software solutions for the secure collaboration of sensitive information, center around applying and enforcing dynamic, policy-driven access controls that leverage user and data attributes to ensure the information users and partners collaborate on goes nowhere but where they want.

Kurt Mueffelmann, global COO and U.S. president of archTIS, spoke with MESA about how the company proactively can stop media and entertainment data loss, who should have access to your content, and how archTIS protects the world’s most sensitive content using attribute-based access and control (ABAC) policies.

MESA: What was the impetus for archTIS, how did the company first come on the scene?

Mueffelmann: archTIS’ mission is to be the company that the world trusts with its most sensitive information. We provide innovative software solutions for the secure collaboration of sensitive information. Established in 2006, archTIS has over 15 years of experience delivering information security solutions within enterprises and the highest security levels of government and defense.

We are focused on unlocking the potential of an information-driven world by enabling trust.

We develop new security models and distributed security platforms which enable enterprises and public sector organizations to share and collaborate on their most valuable and sensitive information.

MESA: What are some of archTIS’ favorite use-case examples (that you can share), where clients made especially good use of your services?

Mueffelmann: archTIS’ award-winning data-centric information security solutions protect the world’s most sensitive content in government, defense, supply chain, enterprises and regulated industries through attribute-based access and control (ABAC) policies. As our solutions are used to protect some of the most sensitive in government and enterprises alike, we can’t reveal specifics, but our solutions protect everything from secret formulas to government research to legal documents to healthcare information, and everything in between.

MESA: What makes archTIS and its NC Protect platform stand out among competitors, what does the company and the solution do in the secure sharing space that others don’t?

Mueffelmann: Data security is more than just who should have access to your data — you also need to control what users should they be able to do with it once they have access. archTIS solutions are unique for two reasons: one, they are proactive and stop data loss caused by negligence (whoops, I sent this to the wrong person), misuse (let me sneak a peek at the new trailer), and malicious users (I’m going to steal the script and sell it to the highest bidder), alike from happening in the first place.

Second is how they do it — using ABAC that evaluates both the sensitivity of the content and the user’s context to determine who can access data and what they can do with it.

MESA: What are the chief information sharing concerns archTIS sees among players in the media and entertainment space, and what could those organizations be doing better?

Mueffelmann: It’s all about the content in media and entertainment. It’s what success is built on, but it’s also an attractive target because of what’s at stake. To protect it, organizations need to assess what data an employee, contractor or third-party vendor needs to access do their job. But it doesn’t stop there. They also need to determine what a user should be able to do with that content if they are granted access to it.

Just because you can access a file doesn’t mean you should have carte blanche with it. Should a user be able to edit a file, or should it be read-only access? Should they be able to print it? Save it? Copy and paste it? What about sharing or emailing it? With whom? Look for solutions that can granularly control not just access to data but can also control usage and sharing rights to prevent it from walking out the door.

MESA: How has the pandemic impacted archTIS’ business, in what ways has the company adjusted its services?

Mueffelmann: If anything, the value that archTIS solutions provide has been validated by the pandemic. Remote work is great, but it creates a lot more pathways for information to be breached, misused, or constitute a compliance violation. archTIS solutions provide a proactive way to ensure that your users can work anywhere, while ensuring that confidential information stays that way by limiting access when needed and by restricting document usage. For example, maybe it’s ok for you to look at a read only copy of a script at a café but it’s not ok for you to be able to edit it, download or print it. It’s about adapting the level of security to the scenario at the time of access.

MESA: What’s next for archTIS, what advances or added services can we expect from the company on the horizon?

Mueffelmann: The company will continue to be on the forefront of product and technology innovation to enable secure collaboration. The entertainment industry continues to be a key market of opportunity.

We look for customer input and feedback to provide us with market insight and information on what features, functionality and solutions are required in protecting intellectual property and it associated value across industries.