Have you updated your agency to the Email Protective Marking Standard (EPMS) version 2018.2? As you likely know, changes to the standard went into effect 1 January 2019.
Since the last iteration was released in 2010, the EPMS standard has been amended. The changes include updates to the range of security classifications, changes to specific markings and caveat types, as well as new language used for the markings.
Make the transition seamlessly
Perhaps you’re thinking, “Where should we begin to make this transition to EPMS 2018.2?” One place to start is by updating your technologies to accommodate the new marking standard.
As the first technology company to develop tools that could enable government agencies to easily comply with EPMS, Fortra’s Data Classification Suite (DCS) knows the standard inside and out. Our user-friendly categorization tools help agencies clearly and accurately classify emails, documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other files with user-selected, system-suggested or automatically applied settings, based on your data security policies. Further, this capability has been extended to include machine learning functionality to help automatically identify sensitive information and mark it appropriately.
DCS integrates seamlessly with employee workflows, enabling your organization to more easily gain end user buy-in to identify sensitive assets. The solution provides automatic marking functionality to help educate and support users in correct information handling.
Fortra has stayed abreast of every change along the way and evolved our technologies to accommodate each new version of EPMS. The latest release provides support for v2018.2 of the standard and is already in use by over 30 federal agencies.
The transition to the new framework will not be a 1:1 mapping. DCS has released tailored solutions for Australian government agencies and contractors, which can help ease the transition from previous versions of the standard. The Suite is also interoperable with previous versions, allowing organizations to transition either gradually or immediately.
Standardize across all unstructured data
While EPMS strictly applies to email messages, most agencies aim to replicate these marking standards across documents and files. A manual or template approach to rolling this out is not only inefficient but also increases the risk of inaccurate marking and lacks basic process controls. From a security perspective, the risk of wrongly marked information being leaked or shared inappropriately goes up significantly. DCS capabilities seamlessly support any file type using the same policy engine to ensure marking standards are enforced. In addition, custom metadata can be written to accurately identify information. Critically, DCS enables organizations to protect, share and store their sensitive information appropriately and consistently.
Boost your data protection strategy
EPMS compliance is critical, but today an equally serious concern is security. Every year, cybercrime becomes more and more sophisticated. DCS customers are now investing significantly more into a data-centric security strategy that enables them to better manage external and internal threats.
As a customer, you automatically have robust data protection capabilities at your disposal. Our solutions are based on a powerful, flexible policy engine that supports accurate tagging and enforces appropriate information sharing, both within your agency and externally. DCS capability extends protection to data at rest and at creation, in the cloud and on premises, as well as on platforms including Office 365 and Mac OS.
Clear, accurate metadata not only enables users to share information securely within their organization but through proven integration can also make your email gateways and other security tools — such as data loss prevention (DLP) technologies, encryption solutions and cloud access security brokers (CASBs) — more effective, helping them to know precisely when to block, allow, perform threat analysis or instigate rights management policies. In this way, all of your security tools are working together to recognize and protect sensitive official information as your team does its job.
Let’s talk about how to turn this EPMS transition into a real boon for your security strategy!
