A data room is an electronic storage system that lets documents be stored in a secure environment. It also provides a number of additional features to assist with the due diligence process. These features include annotations tools and granular access rights, activity tracking, and watermarking.

A typical use of a data room is to share security documents (SOC 2 documents and compliance certificates, etc.) with clients to aid in the due diligence process. This is a great method to accelerate the process and decrease risk by sharing this information with third parties before the transaction is completed.

Traditionally, companies have used email to share SOC 2 docs as well as other documentation. While this works it is inefficient and leads to version control issues. It’s also vulnerable as email-related attacks are increasing, leading to compromised inboxes, stolen credentials and attacks on phishing.

Many secure file sharing and storage solutions, such as Box and Dropbox allow access to documents on any device or in any location. They offer a high level of security, however the majority people and businesses need more. Documents that are sensitive and used to conduct due diligence, fundraising or negotiations should be stored and shared through software that has more security levels than the personal file-sharing software.

The most important question to inquire about a “secure data room” is whether it blocks authorized users from sharing files with non-authorized persons. Unfortunately the answer is almost datazoning.net/what-is-avast-behavior-shield-and-how-it-works always “no”. Most’secure data rooms’ do not restrict the number of times the same user’s credentials can be used to access the system. Users can easily reuse login credentials on their own devices, or copy and paste URLs into the browser of a friend’s PC.