Dropbox rolls out secure business service

Cloud storage firm Dropbox has made a play for the business market, rolling out a new work-orientated service that it claims will offer administrators full control over stored data.
The new Dropbox for Business service was announced in a company blog post and is designed to make it easier for end users and IT managers to manage work and personal files. It claims to do this by letting users connect their work and personal Dropbox accounts.
"On one hand, people wanted to access their personal stuff at work; meanwhile, IT admins wanted to keep company data separate and free of personal files. Both needs were real, but people had to choose between two Dropboxes," read the post.
"We thought about this from scratch and designed a solution we're excited to share: connecting your personal Dropbox to your Dropbox for Business account. This will give you a personal Dropbox and a work Dropbox on all of your devices, so you'll never have to choose between them. It'll be like having your house keys and your work keycard on the same keychain."
In a follow-up post Dropbox's head of Product, Business and Mobile, Ilya Fushman, explained that the linked accounts will let users have full control of their personal files, while simultaneously letting administrators manage work data.
"With your new Dropbox for Business account, you can know exactly what's happening to corporate data, take action if something goes wrong and easily continue your business when employees move on. Most importantly, you can do all of this without putting your corporate data at risk," read the post.
"Each Dropbox will be properly labelled for personal or work, and come with its own password, contacts, settings and files."
The business service will also offer administrators increased visibility of what data is being shared, remote wipe powers and the ability to control access rights to files stored on the account.
The release follows widespread criticism of Dropbox security protocols. The service has suffered several data breaches over the past few years. F-Secure web reputation service expert Christine Bejerasco listed the popularity and insecure nature of services such as Dropbox as a key reason for the ongoing renaissance in malware development and distribution.