Google Apps Rival Takes Its Turn at Security (
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SAAS collaboration software Central Desktop adds a security pack to boost the safety of its log-in pages.
Google gets a lot of kudos for its free collaboration Google Apps, but some larger businesses have been reluctant to endorse the suite of e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet software due to concerns that it isn't secure enough for the enterprise.
The company isn't the only vendor that has run into those security obstacles.
SAAS (software as a service) collaboration startup Central Desktop, which offers small and midsize businesses and workgroups group calendars, wikis, intranets and task management tools, also has plans to make collaboration software a safer place to work and play.
The Pasadena, Calif., company is offering the Central Desktop Security Pack, which boasts increased security around user passwords, single-login and sign-on features, to help its customers comply with internal security requirements, said Central Desktop CEO and co-founder Isaac Garcia.
"We continue to run into certain types of hurdles as our product would want to get deployed into more and more teams," Garcia told eWEEK. "If customers can get past that security hurdle, they can get the blessing from their IT departments to implement the SAAS solutions."
While Google has focused its security solutions on shoring up inbound and outbound e-mail messages for Gmail, Central Desktop is focused on securing the sign-in pages for SMBs and business teams within larger organizations that have more stringent requirements enforced by their IT departments.
User authentication in Central Desktop "workspaces" is controlled via a unique and valid username and password combination that is encrypted using a one-way hash.
The Security Pack adds an additional layer of password security by allowing the administrator to adjust minimum password length; a password save option to let an administrator turn on or off the "Remember Me" function at the point of login; more complex password credentials; and the ability to let administrators determine how often user passwords expire.
The pack also boasts a TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption and trusted e-mail domain feature to let users control access and send encrypted e-mails to trusted users, as well as a trusted IP address feature.
