How to keep your agreements safe and secure when you’re working on-the-go

Remote work has its perks. You can wear your PJs. You can squeeze in loads of washing. You can tick things off the to-do list from your favourite cafe. But this convenience and flexibility is not without its flaws. A big issue? Keeping your data and documents secure, particularly with the proliferation of end points and personal devices being used to access corporate networks. 

Since the start of the pandemic, cybercrime has been on the rise. In the last financial year alone, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) received over 67,500 reports of cybercrime – a rise of 13% year on year – with self-reported losses totalling over $33 billion.

As the criminals get craftier, it becomes more important for you to ensure you and your colleagues have systems in place to protect your data – particularly when it comes to mission-critical agreements, which can contain super-sensitive information about pricing, personal and company details, and more. 

Let’s take a look at how you can better protect your digital agreements using DocuSign.

Security checkpoint: 2FA authentication

At a minimum, you should switch on two-factor and SMS authentication for important documents and agreements. Multi-factor authentication is one of the eight critical cybersecurity strategies recommended by the ACSC in its Essential Eight maturity model, and for good reason. It provides an extra barrier between your users and potential hackers, particularly important if you are sending or sharing documents in the cloud. 

With DocuSign, it’s easy to configure multi-factor authentication, giving you extra assurance that  only those authorised to access DocuSign eSignature and associated documents can access them. To get started:

• Log in to your DocuSign account
• Go to My Preferences > Privacy & Security > Two-Step Verification 
• Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the verification process

For more detailed instructions on setting up two-factor authentication as an admin or a user, check out this support article.

Zero trust: Know your signers

These days, trust nobody. To make sure your signers are who they say they are, you can set up multiple levels of authentication so that signers have to prove their identity before being given access to documents. For example, our built-in signer authentication method is email, but you can take things a step further by setting up SMS authentication, which will send a one-time passcode via SMS to your signer – which they then need to enter before opening the document.

There are other options, too – like ID verification or access code authentication. The important thing is deciding what will work for you, and implementing it from the outset. 

Security assurances: How DocuSign keeps you safe

Wherever you’re working, know that DocuSign’s got your back. We adhere to industry best practices to ensure your data stays protected. For example, with the DocuSign Agreement Cloud, we always: 

• Logically separate individual customer data
• ​Encrypt customer data and documents
• Support only recognised cipher suites
• Provide non-repudiation for all documents generated and signed using DocuSign via a Certificate of Completion
• Maintain a data disposal and re-use policy 

And when it comes to DocuSign eSignature, we do things like logging of intrusion prevention and detection events, and sending tailored alerts to our operations and security teams to ensure optimal security is maintained. 

As we say in our Trust Centre, our first priority is to make your experience safe and secure – and to ensure you have the information you need to feel comfortable transacting business online. Of course, if you have any questions at any time about how we help you stay safe, please do get in touch.