As the trend pushed towards work-from-home, a lot was at stake for companies and organizations, in terms of fortifying the security of sensitive materials and confidential documents shared over the internet. As the work expanded, the amount of data and document theft also rose, calling for a need for specialists in document security with DRM controls to control document access and use.
Locklizard provides document security solutions that are highly secure and built according to the client’s needs, not the trends. This along with a pinch of innovation, latest technology, and made by a team of security industry professionals, makes them reliable and difficult to defeat.
The company has always been in the spotlight for providing best-in-class, feasible, and comprehensive solutions that have become a milestone in the information security industry, making them one of the dominant players when it comes to document protection.
Leading Security, reliability and Locklizard
Locklizard was launched in 2004, with a strong focus on IT security, DRM (digital rights management), document encryption, PKI, and copy protection, securing documents that organizations want to share securely or that Publishers want to sell securely.
The company is run by a group of information and document security specialists who have more than 70 years of combined experience in this field. Their management team was involved in the first file security software produced in the UK called Stoplock, used to protect business data on personal computers.
The senior management includes authors of ISO/IEC 17799 (formerly BS7799), who contributed to other national and international data security standards on data security methods and techniques, open trade messaging, and data management. They have provided data security advice to the European Commission, the UK Government, CESG, and a range of globally based Fortune 100 companies.
Locklizard provides strong document security for PDF documents, protecting them from unauthorized access and controlling how they can be used. They enable organizations to share PDF files securely, stop leakage, and protect documents that are sold (training courses, ebooks, reports, etc.) from piracy. To achieve this, they use a secure and transparent licensing control system, encryption and DRM controls to lock documents to devices and enforce how they can be used.
They bring expertise in the use and application of encryption technologies servicing the requirements of both publishers and internal company management, in enforcing appropriate controls over IPR, to prevent intellectual property theft.
The initial journey of Locklizard
The initial challenges faced by Locklizard and its team are persistent to this day, i.e., educating the market regarding security solutions that are being sold as secure. For example, PDF password protection, for instance, is considered secure but you have to share the password with the recipient, which then can be easily removed and shared without any protection.
Similarly, PDF permissions or restrictions provide no protection – they can be instantly removed using free online tools. Using a long and complex password so the PDF cannot be easily cracked is not the point – if one person has access then you cannot control who else does, or what they will do with it. Also, there are issues with transferring passwords securely and managing them.
Today, it is the move to secure data rooms and other cloud-based document protection solutions that advertise themselves as highly secure yet provide weak security. Users can share login credentials and use the same IP address to login via a proxy, you cannot prevent users from using screen-grabbing utilities to take high-quality screenshots, prevent printing to unprotected PDF files or lock documents to devices.
It is therefore easy for users to still share them. Also, all the protection code (JavaScript) is accessible in the browser, so it can be edited by a skilled user – and once one user knows how to do this they then share that information with others or provide a browser plugin or script that does it for them.
Many systems decrypt content on the server, making it even easier for users to circumvent so they serve content as images to provide some protection (i.e. preventing copying of text). There are so many weaknesses to such systems but unless you know a little about how security works you might easily believe the marketing hype.
With remote home working, remote training, etc. companies are now becoming more aware of how their intellectual property can be stolen and shared. But often until this happens, they stick with what they know best which is often password protection or web-based access controls.
This is where Locklizard and its team steps in to provide highly reliable and foolproof document security solutions that make sure that your documents and intellectual property are always secure and never fall into the wrong hands. They use the latest technology developed by an expert and highly experienced team, making sure your valuable business documents are always protected regardless of where they are located.
What establishes Locklizard and forms a pillar of their long-standing success?
- They produce document security software that does what it says on the tin – basically it works as described with little implementation or support required.
- If you want to share your documents securely or protect them from leakage or piracy then there are very few options available that provide this level of document security at this price point.
- Locklizard provides great PDF security products that are secure, simple to implement, and that cost significantly less than weaker competitor offerings. To back their innovative and unrivaled service offerings, they offer industry-leading service and support.
- Not only this, it is the long list of recurring and satisfied clients that trust their services and rely on them with their valuable documents and information. The client testimonials, respect in the industry, benchmark service, and support standards makes them highly sought after, making them one of the best and dominant players in the PDF security field.
Impeccable service offerings of Locklizard and distinguishing factors
Locklizard is a premier DRM supplier for publishers, enterprises, and governments, meeting and exceeding requirements for the finance, auditing, semiconductor, training, publishing, and analyst communities. Their PDF DRM software can be used straight out of the box so you are up and running straight away.
Locklizard has taken a different approach to document security by avoiding known security weaknesses and complex implementation. They use their in-house developed secure PDF Viewers – so they have full control over the environment and can enforce DRM controls at all times.
They don’t use passwords since they can be easily shared or removed, or plugins (they break easily or can be circumvented). Document decryption is done in memory only – there are no temporary files for users to save and share. Key management is handled transparently by the licensing server and Viewer software, so there are no complex keys to generate, distribute, manage, or for users to remove or pass on to others.
Publishers protect documents on their computers and distribute protected PDFs just like any other file. There is no uploading of unprotected documents to servers where they could be compromised or viewed by others.
They lock documents to devices so they cannot be shared, and optionally to locations so you can control BYOD use. They prevent screen grabbing and printing to PDF files and other unprotected file formats. Their DRM controls are expansive and flexible – you protect a single file for all users, yet can control access and use on a user basis – so for example, you can have the same file expire at different times for different users or have dynamic watermarks that display a user’s name, company and email address when the document is viewed and/or printed.
Offline documents contain the same level of security as online ones, and users can view protected PDF documents on a USB device or in a browser without having to install a Viewer.
They provide perpetual licenses for long-term use saving you thousands over competitor offerings. Their prices are for unlimited use – they don’t charge per document or user.
All these factors and flexibility with a sense of complete trust and reliability with affordable and unmatched solutions make them best-in-class document security solution providers for PDF files.
How does Locklizard update its services in terms of changing trends and new additions?
Locklizard heavily emphasizes customer feedback and the team’s inputs. If multiple customers would like a new feature added then that generally happens in a later release. This way they implement features that customers want rather than those that would be nice to have. Although the core set of features is decided by the company, the added features pushed via updates stem mainly from customer feedback.
They are working on new additions to their existing products in the pipeline including an updated Administration system with a new design and many extra features and additional PDF protection options in their Writer software and secure Viewers.
Flagbearer of Locklizard
An innovative, highly focused yet reliable company like Locklizard stems from solid core values intending to provide nothing but the best. This is held by the formidable and expert team of the company, dedicated to upholding its name and revolutionizing the industry with its innovative and unmatched services. Beyond this, it requires an exemplary leader, who holds the team together, and takes the company ahead into the future.
Steve Mathews, CEO of Locklizard
Steve has been in the IT security business for 31 years. Before Locklizard, he was involved with a company called ArticSoft which produced OpenPGP software, and before that, he had a long career with a company called PCSL which produced desktop security products and later PKI middleware.
Steve was one of the authors of ISO/IEC 17799 (formerly BS7799) amongst other international security standards and used to actively contribute to standards development including ISO/IEC JTC1/SC32. He has advised the European Commission on various security projects and was previously a CLAS consultant.
One of the major achievements of Steve’s professional journey has been growing a company organically from scratch without seeking any investment. He also established a distributed workforce working effectively from home pre-Covid. This goes to show how formidable and visionary a leader Steve is, taking Locklizard, its team, and its services to a highly respected and leading place in the IT security industry.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill
Steve’s views on the responsibilities of an entrepreneur
I am not sure about responsibilities, but the key abilities would be to be flexible and able to adapt quickly – circumstances change and you need to be able to change with them. This can often be more readily achieved in a small company as the decision chain is much shorter.
The other ability you need is to be able to work hard. Being an entrepreneur is not a 9-5 job and you have to make sacrifices along the way – the business always comes first.
Steve’s take on the competition in the market, and how he copes with it?
Over the years many companies have entered the document security space each offering a similar solution to the same problem. We have seen many come and go. With home working and remote training, document security has become more popular as a subject that needs to be addressed.
However, while competitor offerings may add confusion (it is often difficult for a layman to understand the differences, especially with solutions that all claim to do the same thing), we have stuck to producing products that work – as one customer quoted “they do what they say on the tin”.
So, our product range is proven and resilient and I think that helps us in a crowded marketplace.
Is competition a motivating factor for Steve? What are his views on competition bringing out the best?
Yes, if the competition is moving into your space, then obviously you will seek to improve what you offer so that you can make the sale instead of them. We are continuously looking at ways to adapt to make sure anyone wanting to securely share PDF documents or who wants to protect PDF files from leakage or piracy thinks of Locklizard first.
If you want to share PDF files securely, sell PDFs without fear of them being pirated, or protect your business documents from leakage then visit www.locklizard.com.
