Why Do You Need Portal's Security Policy?


Do you want to allow users to define for every file as to who can view them, or do you want to make sure every file is restricted to logged in users only? Want to restrict  users from sharing with external audiences? You can do all of this and much more by defining security policies for your portal in VIDIZMO.


Applying Security Policies on a Portal allows users to define governance controls that determine who can access your Portal and view media published in the Library. It helps administrators to increase control on how they want the end-users to participate within the Portal and their interaction with the content being uploaded.


About Portal's Security Policy

In VIDIZMO, Security Policies include preset configurations based on common organizational requirements including a Custom option for those who prefer to customize their settings to meet specific business requirements. These Security Policy types are:

  1. Public
  2. Internal
  3. Restricted
  4. Hidden
  5. Custom

Note: Changing your portal's security policy will override the access settings applied on individual files within your portal. For example, if you make a portal Public, then all media files in the portal will be available for anonymous access.


Here is what each of these Portal Security Policy types represent and are used for:


1. Public: 

  • Viewing Access: Public Security Policy allows all media uploaded in the Portal to be anonymously available, and any authenticated or unauthenticated user can access it for viewing. This Policy has been specifically designed for the published media to reach out to public audiences. 


  • Portal Access Type: It allows the user to send a join request and become a part of the said portal without awaiting admin approval. Users with Manager+ roles can also manually add users to the Portal using their email addresses. All users can participate i.e. post comments and feedback, like media, add to favorites etc. 

 

2. Internal: 

  • Viewing Access: Internal Security Policy allows all media uploaded in the Portal to be accessible internally i.e. only to all Account and Portal users. Since the media can be viewed by authenticated users only, there is no option to share it externally. 
  • Portal Access Type: The Portal shall be visible to all Account and Portal Users with an option to send a join request. Users with Manager+ roles can manually add users to the Portal using their email addresses. All Account and Portal users are allowed to participate.
Note: This portal policy is not available in VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management (DEMS) product package.


3. Restricted: 

  • Viewing Access: Restricted Security Policy type allows all media uploaded in the Portal to be accessible to Portal users only. This is different from an internal portal, as users of a specific portal can only access files and not that of the entire account. This portal is ideal if you want to restrict access of files to a single department only. For example if I want to restrict access of budget related files to only Finance Department.


  • Portal Access Type: It does not allow the Portal to be anonymously accessed, but users can be added manually by using their email addresses. The Join Request option is enabled by default and all Join Requests will require approval from either an Administrator or a Manager. Only the Portal users are allowed to participate. 


4. Hidden: 

  • Viewing Access: Hidden Security Policy  allows all media uploaded in the Portal to be accessible to Portal users only and not the Account users. It's different from a restricted portal as Account users cannot view this portal in the portal's list.


  • Portal Access Type: The Portal is not anonymously accessible, and users cannot be added manually to this Portal. Furthermore, Join Request option is disabled by default. The Portal will also be hidden from listings, and only Portal users are allowed to participate.


5. Custom:
In order to configure your own Custom Security Policy, the parameters that need to be configured are:


I. Viewing Access
VIDIZMO allows you to define the parameters within which users in your portal can grant viewing access. You can keep all videos restricted to internal authenticated users or make them available for anonymous access. 


1. Authenticated Viewers: Users have the option to configure Viewing Access uniquely 


a) All Account and Portal Viewers: By selecting the checkbox, all viewers that belong to a Portal or Account are granted access.

b) All Portal Viewers: By selecting this checkbox, only the Portal viewers are granted access. Read more at  Understanding VIDIZMO Account and Portal  

2. Anonymous Users: By selecting anonymous users, the Administrator/Manager allows the content to be accessible by anyone.


3. Decide When Publishing: By selecting this option, users can specify accessibility options while uploading content. This helps users to strategize access granting policy according to the nature of the content.


II. Sharing Access

VIDIZMO provides a unique function of Sharing to enable users to share media with:

  • Specific Viewers/Groups in portal
  • Outside the portal
  • Anyone with a link


III. Portal Access Type
VIDIZMO Administrators can control and set the Portal accessibility through the Security Policy Types. Portal access gives the Administrators and Managers the ability to control the access of users on the Portal. Customizing Portal Access requires following options to be configured:


1. Anonymous Access: By selecting this checkbox, any non-authenticated user can get access to the Portal. Once inside the Portal, a user can join and become part of the Portal and can also access publicly available content. By unchecking this option, anonymous users can't access the portal and a login page will pop up when they visit its URL.

2. Hide Portal From The Listing: By selecting this checkbox, the Portal will be hidden from the menu, featured list and All Portal page for non-registered members. It will only be accessible through Portal URL.

3. Allow Adding Users Manually: By selecting this checkbox, Administrator/Manager can add users manually from Users & Groups.

4. Allow Join Request: This checkbox enables/disables the Join Request option of a Portal. If the Join Request option is disabled, then the option is hidden from the top menu bar, sign-in page, and all Portals page. However, if it is turned on, then anyone can join a Portal. Administrator/Manager can set approval settings as per need. Read about How to Configure Join Request Option.


Approval settings define how an Administrator/Manager wants to moderate user's join requests. By selecting “None” no request will be auto-approved, and the Administrator/Manager will manually accept requests. By selecting “All Requests,” the Administrator/Manager will not have to approve each request, rather they will be automatically approved.

To learn more about approval settings, click on How to Change Approval Settings For Join Request.

5. Allow Participation: Users can participate by commenting, liking, featuring, and downloading media files. By selecting All Authenticated Users check box, all Account and Portal users can participate. All [Portal Name] Users will only enable the Portal users to participate. By selecting None, no user can participate.



Note: 
By default, the Custom Security Policy is selected and you can customize all settings for this Security Policy according to how you want to administer and manage the content within your enterprise. 

Public/Anonymous Access is not applicable for Digital Evidence Management Product


Security Policy for Categories

Within the VIDIZMO portal, the configuration of security policies significantly influences category settings. When modifying the security policy, users have the flexibility to update the policy for uncategorized content, the main category, and sub-categories. This update extends to child categories where the inheritance of access rights from the main category is disabled during subcategory creation.


When users initiate updates to portal security policies, they encounter a confirmation prompt that allows them to specify the inheritance of access rights. This confirmation prompt offers multiple options, enabling users to choose whether they want to establish viewing access for both categories and uncategorized content, maintain the existing viewing access without changes, exclusively update viewing access for all uncategorized content, or globally update viewing access for all contents.


This level of granularity in control ensures that users can precisely manage access rights based on their specific requirements. It provides a technical mechanism to align security policies with the desired access configurations in the portal, offering clarity and control over security policy adjustments.

 

For more information on how to update the security policy for categories, refer to the article "Managing and Applying Access Rights to Categories in VIDIZMO."

Roles and Permissions

In EnterpriseTube,  both Administrators and Managers can perform the following functions. In DEMS, only the Manager can perform the following functions:

  • Set any pre-defined configurations as your default Security Policy
  • Customize the configuration to cater to your organizational needs



Contributions were made by Javeria Hasan & Sarah Hussain.

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