Enterprise Digital Rights Management (E-DRM), sometimes referred to as Information Rights Management (IRM), is the common term for digital rights management (DRM) technologies that cater to enterprise use cases, many of which involve protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access and use.
Traditional Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies are usually associated with preventing the unauthorized access and distribution of consumer-facing media such as games, music, and movie. For example, locking specific programs so that they cannot be accessed in certain regions/countries, another example would be licensing control when a piece of media is tied to an account, and you must be logged in to access said content.
While this may be secure enough for consumer-facing software and content, there are many workarounds that many consumers have found. While this is a concern for businesses, it will not cause a large-scale loss. However, this is not the case for business-critical data and files, while these must also be distributed and shared with multiple collaborators including employees, partners, and customers; a data leak or wrongful disclosure could lead to significant impact and loss to the business.
Enterprises need DRM technologies that match the security needed to ensure their files are safe without sacrificing the ability to efficiently collaborate, share, and edit.
The E-DRM model addresses the data protection needs of the enterprise to collaborate and share business data across internal and external stakeholders. E-DRM technology allows for sensitive enterprise information and data to be created, viewed, modified, and distributed securely. It protects sensitive enterprise information from unauthorized access, use, and distribution by applying rules to the information distributed in electronic documents.
E-DRM policies determine dynamically based on the identity of the recipient(s), what permission and user action is granted to control recipients from specific use activities like viewing, modifying, printing, forwarding, making a copy, extracting content, and expiration. Policies can be updated or revoked even after a document has been distributed.
Enterprise Digital Rights Management solutions are frequently used to reduce exposure to information risks and prevent data loss when communicating and collaborating with partners. E-DRM protects information against theft, misuse, or inadvertent disclosure, and mitigates the business, legal, and regulatory risks of collaboration and information exchanges with partners, customers, and across the extended enterprise.
Building this kind of architecture does come along with challenges such as data integrity. Code and data schemas could be inadvertently disclosed, or internal implementation details could be leaked through APIs. Therefore, it is increasingly important to prevent sensitive data from being exposed through APIs and microservices.
Securing microservices involves implementing several security measures at various levels of the architecture to protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats. Here are some steps you can take to secure your architecture:
By following these best practices, organizations can ensure that their microservices are secure and protected against potential security threats.
To understand more on how to secure microservices, watch this episode of NextLabs Cybersecurity Expert Series.
Alexandru Ghinea shares his insights on securing microservices to prevent cybersecurity attacks. He covers what a microservices architecture looks like, what threats this architecture may pose, and how to implement a data-centric security approach with this architecture.
Alexandru Ghinea is a DevOps Engineer for the Societe Generale. Alexandru has over 8 years of experience in the cybersecurity field.
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