Vitrium Systems

By now we have all heard about the top secret US military documents pertaining to the Afghanistan war being leaked to WikiLeaks. More than 91,000 reports describing actions involving the US military’s actions between 2004 and 2010 were leaked to several major media outlets before being published online.

The moral and ethical implications of having these confidential documents leaked are not for us to surmise over, rather we are asking another question – how could the US military have prevented such a huge leak of internal confidential documentation?

The answer is astoundingly simple. With such sensitive information, the US military should have been using a PDF protection system that secured each document individually, requiring users to enter authorized credentials each time it was opened. We can only assume that the US military does use a document security system and we cannot comment on the security system they are employing, the nature of which is obviously confidential for security purposes. But what we can point out is that clearly there was a huge problem with it.

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6 Features to Consider When Choosing a PDF Protection Solution

To sum up our 6 part series about optimizing your readers’ experience when choosing a PDF DRM solution to protect PDF content, we’ve compiled the following list for you to consider:

1. Balance the reader’s privacy with the publisher’s need to know - Ask only necessary information to validate your reader’s identity
2. Keep the validation process simple for your readers - Make sure that when controlling your content’s distribution the validation process is simple and easy for your readers to remember
3. Consider readers’ desire not to install extra software to access PDFs - Your PDF DRM solution shouldn’t require your readers to download anything extra to access your PDF content
4. Understand your readers’ use patterns - Choose a PDF protection solution that allows your reader some flexibility (if appropriate) when it comes to what computers they can access your PDF content on
5. Understand your commitment to maintaining the reader record - Try to accommodate your readers’ expectations for document shelf-life with your control over PDF content
6. Implement a tolerable document security level - A DRM solution should be a deterrent from unauthorized access yet doesn’t hamper authorized readers’ access

This is the FINAL post of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Make sure to check out the previous 5!

(6) Implement a tolerable document security level

Often DRM is considered by the reader to be a pain and hinders their ability access the content. It is important that the reader feels that the level of security is balanced out by the perceived value of the PDF document’s content.

Takeaway: A DRM solution should be a deterrent from unauthorized access yet doesn’t hamper authorized readers’ access

This is the fifth of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Stay tuned for the last installment!

(5) Understand your commitment to maintaining the reader record

How long should you keep a record of who has access to documents and maintain those protected documents? There needs to be a balance between keeping DRM systems simple and databases clean for you (the publisher), and your readers’ expectation that, once authorized access is granted, they will have access to those documents for a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes documents are time sensitive and can only be accessed for a short period of time, other documents have an eternal shelf-life and readers want to be able to access it forever.

Takeaway: Try to accommodate your readers’ expectations for document shelf-life with your control over PDF content

This is the fourth of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Stay tuned for the other two installments!

(4) Understand your readers’ use patterns

Many people download a document on one computer and want to read it on another. For example, one of your readers might download your PDF at work but then may need to transfer it to a laptop to travel. Many PDF DRM solutions do not allow the reader to access the document on different computers, impeding your readers’ ability to access the content. However, as the publisher you know best whether multi-computer access is appropriate for your content.

Takeaway: Choose a PDF protection solution that allows your reader some flexibility (if appropriate)

This is the third of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Stay tuned for the other three installments!

(3) Consider readers’ desire not to install extra software to access PDFs

Many consumers are reluctant to have proprietary software installed on their computers in order to gain access to protected documents.  Requiring your readers to download special PDF viewers or validation plug-ins will hamper their experience and make it more difficult for them to access your content, resulting in readers abandoning it.

Takeaway: Your PDF DRM solution shouldn’t require your readers to download anything extra to access your PDF content

This is the second of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Stay tuned for the next four installments!

(2) Keep the validation process simple for your readers

Unprotected content can be easily distributed, and is shared often – 89% of adult internet users share email content with others. However, unprotected PDF content is usually less valuable than information from protected sources (there’s a reason why the content publisher wants it protected). Protected PDF content is only accessible as long as the reader recalls their username and password – otherwise the content will be inaccessible.

Takeaway: Make sure that when controlling your content’s distribution the validation process is simple and easy for your readers to remember

This is the first of a six part series about features to think about when choosing a PDF protection or PDF DRM solution. Stay tuned for the other five installments!

Optimizing the PDF reader’s experience while protecting your PDF content will increase the likelihood of your PDF’s success. If it is too hard to access the content, your readers are just going to give up.

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A decade ago, Adobe and future merger partner Glassbook published Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet, a 16,000-word short story, as the first major eBook. Its digital rights management (DRM) failed as hackers hacked, King got mad, Amazon ended up giving it away. The eBook—and DRM—suffered a brutally black eye.

About the same time, iTunes rose and record labels struggled to rein in MP3 music pirates, DRM as a technology got beat up badly, caught in a riptide between freethinking music consumers and bottom-line-oriented copyright owners.

Adobe, somewhat quietly, released a product called Policy Server (currently part of the LiveCycle Enterprise Suite), and later, Digital Editions, to rights-manage documents and eBooks. Even it wasn’t without hitches, as arguments over text-to-speech features erupted between publishers—who reap revenue from audio books—and advocates for visually impaired readers.

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In the age where every form of communication is digital and you’re finding more people opting for instant messages versus picking up the telephone, the opportunity for confidential information to get leaked is extremely high!

The consequences for a leaked PDF containing confidential information has gone far beyond the simply slap on the wrist. Companies will face hefty fines and a tainted reputation in the market place as being insecure.

There are ways to combat this issue and avoid the embarrassment of having company info leaked. Protectedpdf offers and PDF Protection and Tracking solution that is a perfect fit for this costly problem. Protectedpdf is a reader friendly PDF Protection solution that does not require any software downloads. Your reader will simply enter in their credentials and have access to the information. Also, with protectedpdf you can track how many times the PDF has been opened and by who.

Protectedpdf puts an end to these embarrassing leaks that are costing companies millions! To get your no risk free trial today check out www.protectedpdf.com