External Sharing Module for Enterprise Content Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing enterprise information management (EIM) systems struggle to securely and efficiently share content with external users, as they are typically restricted behind firewalls, limiting collaboration and posing security risks when files are copied and shared externally.
Innovation Solution
A sharing module is introduced that operates on a content server platform, enabling secure and controlled sharing of EIM-managed content with external participants through external systems like cloud-based storage. This module publishes folders or directories from the managed repository to external systems, along with associated metadata, and manages syncing and conflict resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If content is copied and shared externally via email or cloud storage, then external users can access the content, but the content is no longer under management by the content server and security risks arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external sharing system that acts as an intermediary between the enterprise content server and external users. This system receives publishing requests from the content server, manages the external sharing process, and handles repatriation of content back to the content server. The intermediary maintains security policies, tracks content location, and ensures that external sharing occurs through a controlled channel rather than direct copying, thus resolving the contradiction between enabling external access and maintaining management control.
2Reliability
If sharing feature is disabled in content server to prevent security risks, then content management security is maintained, but external sharing need cannot be addressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the content sharing functionality into two distinct parts: the enterprise content server that maintains security and management control, and an external sharing system that handles external user interactions. This segmentation allows the content server to disable direct sharing features while still enabling external collaboration through the separate external sharing system, thus maintaining security while providing adaptability for external collaboration needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The external sharing system serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the secure content server and external users. It receives content from the content server through controlled publishing requests, manages external sharing operations, and handles content repatriation. This intermediary approach allows external sharing capability without compromising the security posture of the content server.
3Productivity
If content is published to external system, then external collaboration is enabled, but tracking and syncing changes back to the content server becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the external sharing system continuously monitors content published to external systems and automatically detects changes. When changes are detected in externally shared content, the system generates repatriation requests to synchronize the updated content back to the content server. This automated feedback loop simplifies the complexity of tracking and syncing by making it an automatic process rather than a manual one, thus enabling external collaboration efficiency without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are mechanisms for sharing content through content consumption systems. A sharing module publishes content in a share and metadata associated therewith to a content consumption system external to a managed repository. The share represents a folder or directory in the managed repository. The publication can be made through application programming interface (API) calls handled by a first sharing module API, a repository API, a second sharing module API, and a content consumption system API. These APIs together provide a one-to-one mapping of communications protocols used by the managed repository and the external system. The share in the managed repository and the share published to the content consumption system are synced and any conflict between the two is detected and resolved. The shared content can be repatriated back to the managed repository and the shared version deleted from the content consumption system.