FileCenter and Regulatory Compliance

We frequently field the question, Is FileCenter HIPAA compliant? SEC? FINRA? SOC2? etc.? Here we answer that question.

The Purpose of Regulations

All of these regulations serve a common goal from different angles: protecting personal data. With this aim in mind, the regulations delineate certain minimal standards of data storage, access, and security that any organization – or tool that the organization uses, such as software – must meet in order to be considered "compliant".

FileCenter and Personal Data

FileCenter does not store personal data.

At first glance, this seems impossible. You open FileCenter, and there are your files. Thousands or tens of thousands of them, full of sensitive personal data. But, in fact, those files are not in FileCenter. FileCenter is nothing more than an organizational lens that sits atop of where your files are actually stored: Windows.

In the category of document management, FileCenter is the outlier. Nearly every other document management system uses its own database to store files. Other document management software does, in fact, store personal data and must employ its own security to keep that data safe.

FileCenter, on the other hand, leaves Windows 100% in charge of file security. Windows is the data keeper. FileCenter is simply an "overlay" for the Windows files.

So is or isn't FileCenter _______ compliant?

Yes ... as long as your Windows computer and network drives are compliant. If your current Windows security is set up such that personal data is secure enough to meet compliance, then FileCenter will do nothing to jeopardize that compliance. It does not sidestep the security that is already in place on your computer and on the network. Rather, it works within that security framework. If a user is locked out from seeing a given file in Windows and on the network, they won't be able to see it in FileCenter either.

In summary, FileCenter will be as compliant as the system that hosts it.

Further Resources

This video demonstrates how FileCenter simply "overlays" what already exists in Windows: