What's in this Article
Applicable Roles/Permissions/Licenses
- Roles: Any
- Permissions: Upload, Move, Copy & Organize Files; Change Client Portal Visibility
- Licenses: Document Management
What Are Secure Links?
Secure links are a new technology that enhances some of our features to help finish different tasks in Canopy. This lets any non-portal user securely access a resource, when they need to sign, view, or even upload files. Canopy emails a secure one-time use link, giving a user access to a resource (no login required) to complete tasks.
What Canopy Features Use Secure Links?
Canopy helps you have the firm you’ve always wanted by developing tools to help reduce friction to complete work between your firm and clients. Secure links do exactly that. Here are a few features in Canopy that use secure links:
We plan to apply this technology to other existing and future features in Canopy.
How Do They Work?
When you fill in a person’s name and email, Canopy sends a secure link that gives them access to the resource and can complete any tasks associated with it. By design, these links let the user access only the resource/location assigned to them, and nothing else. If you give a user access to view a specific file, they won’t be able to see anything else. They can only access these links for a limited time. The specific timeframe depends on what you send the user.
Example: If you send an eSign secure link to a user, it will expire 30 days after the day you sent it. They can access shared files with others for up to two weeks. You can still view these files and tasks in the client portal after the links expire. A link to log in to the client portal shows after the expiration date for the client. We recommend that if you need to view tasks after the expired timeframe, log into the client portal.
How Secure Are They?
With information security, the overall security depends on the most vulnerable access point. For those who want a simple answer, a link generates using a secure, unguessable string. This means your links are as safe as the recipients' emails and the network they access the link on.
In technical terms, we generate links using a secure, coded 256-bit string equating to 52 characters. The industry standard for secure temporary links like these is 128-bit strings or 26 characters, so we’ve doubled it for kicks and gigs. Probability theory shows the odds of someone guessing the URL are one in 1.6X10^92. This means the weakest possible link in your secure links’ lifetime is your email and the network you use it on. Someone can only get access to the link if they are able to get the information off of the network you use. This can happen on public and unsafe networks, or if someone hacks your email.
Add security to links and information by:
- Securing network connections
- Nailing down your email account with 2-factor authentications and strong passwords
Emails with secure links also tell the user to not forward the email as this could decrease security.