Business Security and Team Efficiency with AxCrypt's Group Feature!
Welcome to AxCrypt's Group Feature guide. Learn how to create and manage user groups, assign key group roles within your teams and effectively manage file access within the groups using the Group Masterkey.
What is AxCrypt`s Group Feature?
AxCrypt's Group Feature is designed to enhance organizational efficiency by facilitating businesses to manage users via structured departmental groups hence streamlining file access restrictions, and implementing granular key management.
Why use AxCrypt`s Group Feature?
Imagine a company with several departments like Finance, HR, and IT. AxCrypt's Group Feature allows you to create distinct groups for each department, ensuring that only the relevant team members have access to the necessary documents.
For example, Finance team members would access only financial documents, HR personnel would manage employee records, and IT staff would handle technical data. This structure maintains data confidentiality and significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
AxCrypt’s Group Feature allows you to assign specific roles within each group, such as Admins or regular members, which helps in managing access and responsibilities effectively. For added security and convenience, the Group Masterkey feature enables Admins to recover encrypted files across all groups without needing individual passwords. This is particularly useful during team transitions, employee departures, or when dealing with password issues, as it simplifies access management without compromising security.
How does AxCrypt`s Group Feature work?
AxCrypt’s Group Feature includes the following key aspects:
Group Creation
Easily create user groups within the organization to manage different departmental access and streamline data security.
Group Management
Efficiently handle group memberships and permissions, allowing you to restrict file access to specific groups and users.
Group Masterkey
Enables Masterkey Owners and Group Admins to recover group-specific encrypted files without needing individual passwords, ensuring secure and convenient file access.
Role Assigning
Assign different roles to group members for clear hierarchy and responsibility distribution, enhancing team management.
Secure Group Sharing
Simplify the process of sharing encrypted files and passwords with entire teams, promoting holistic collaboration while maintaining data confidentiality.
How to use Group Feature?
Creating a Group
Navigate to Your AxCrypt ID: Login as a Business Admin to your AxCrypt ID here. Click on “Groups” in the left side-menu and click on the large “+” icon.
Create Group: On the “Create group” page, enter the group name and description, and Click the “+” icon to add each member to the list by their email addresses. If you’d like to remove a user, click the “X” button next to the respective email. A user can be a part of multiple groups.
Alternatively: Groups can also be created by going to the “Users” page on the left-side menu. Make sure that no group is selected in the dropdown. Now select one or more users then click on “Actions” and select “Add to group”.
Save Group: Ensure the number of added members does not exceed the available licenses. Click the “SAVE” button to create the group.
Managing Groups
View Groups: Click the “Groups” option in the side menu to see all created groups displayed as cards.
Manage Groups: Use the three-dot menu on the group card to modify the group name and description, add users, and delete the group.
Add Members: Click on the group to go to the group’s page, and under the “Manager users” section, click on the “Add Users” button on the right to add more members by their email. You can add users in bulk by importing a spreadsheet with a list of emails on the add users’ dialogue box.
Remove Members: Click on the group to go to the group’s page, and under the “Manager users” section. Under the group name, select the users that you’d like to remove by clicking on the checkbox next to a user’s email, then click on the “Actions” button above to select the “Delete” option and confirm the removal.
Check Licenses: Under the “Users” page in the left-side menu, use the “Manage Users” section to view and manage all licenses.
Group Roles and Group Masterkey
Roles
AxCrypt's Group Feature includes a robust role management system designed to increase efficiency by distributing tasks and privileges in a systematic hierarchy. The roles, in order of authority are:
Business Admin /
Masterkey Owner
Owns complete control of AxCrypt Business subscription like managing groups, users and more.
Group Admin
Assigned by the Business Admins, Group Admins manage group-specific tasks within the assigned groups. Group Admins can be members or admins of multiple groups.
Group Member
Group Members also known as the Standard Users, can access and collaborate on files within their assigned groups.
Permission | Business Admin / | Group Admin | Group Member/ Standard User |
| Create & Manage Groups | |||
| Add & Manage Users | |||
| Update User Roles | |||
| Manage Group Access | |||
| Manage Masterkey Access | |||
| Enable/Disable User File Access | |||
| Choose Masterkey Owner | |||
| Enable/Disable Master Key |
This structure allows for clear delegation and management of responsibilities, ensuring that sensitive information is accessed and managed appropriately, facilitating secure collaboration and streamlined operations.
Group Masterkey
The Group Masterkey is a pivotal feature of AxCrypt's Group functionality, designed to enhance security and streamline key management within an organization.
Secure Recovery
The Group Masterkey allows Group Admins and Masterkey Owner to recover encrypted files specific to their group without needing the individual passwords of group members. This ensures that important data remains accessible even if a member leaves or forgets their password.
Efficient Key Management
With the Group Masterkey, Business Admins can maintain control over encrypted files while delegating access to Group Admins. This hierarchical key management system increases efficiency and ensures that key sharing is both secure and manageable.
Role-Based Access
The Group Masterkey functionality integrates seamlessly with AxCrypt's role-based access control. While Group Admins can enable or disable the Group Masterkey, and responsible for managing it within their respective groups. Group Members are required to approve the Masterkey access.
Enhanced Security
The use of the Group Masterkey minimizes the risk of data breaches by reducing the dependency on individual passwords. This centralized key management approach ensures that all encrypted data can be accessed only by authorized personnel, enhancing overall security and compliance.
Steps to Manage Group Roles and Group Masterkey
Assign Business Admins
On your AxCrypt ID page, click on the “Users” page in the left-side menu and scroll down to see the list of all the active users of the subscription. Ensure no group is selected.
Click on the “Standard User” dropdown under the “Roles” column next to the user’s email and select “Administrator.” This will update the user’s role as Business Admin.
To remove a user as a Business Admin, click on the “Administrator” dropdown again and select “Standard User.”
Assign Group Admins
On your AxCrypt ID page, click on the “Users” page in the left-side menu and scroll down to see the list of all users of the subscription.
Select the desired group from the group selection dropdown.
Click on the “Standard User” dropdown under the “Roles” column next to the user’s email and select “Administrator.” This will update the user’s role as Group Admin.
To remove a user as a Group Admin, click on the “Administrator” dropdown again and select “Standard User.”
Manage Group Users
On your AxCrypt ID page, click on the “Users” page in the left-side menu and scroll down to see the list of all the active users of the subscription.
Select the desired group user(s) and click on the “Action” button on top to:
Delete: Removes the selected user(s) from the group, revoking their access to any shared group files and settings.
Restore Masterkey: Recovers access to encrypted files without needing individual passwords or keys, allowing Admins to decrypt files as necessary.
Disable Masterkey Access: Prevents selected user(s) from the group to decrypt files shared within the group
Enable Masterkey Access: Allows selected user(s) from the group to decrypt files shared within the Group. Files encrypted before enabling will not be accessible with the Masterkey and require re-encryption during the enablement.
Disable Access: Restricts the selected user(s) from accessing the group, effectively removing their permissions to view or edit group files and also not be part of any file sharing.
Enable Access: Restores the selected user(s) permissions to access and interact with files shared within the group, reinstating their previous access levels.
For any additional support and help, please feel free to reach out to us via email. Contact Support: support@axcrypt.net.
You can also request a business demo to get a live overview and learn more about our services and solutions.
What’s Next?
If you’d like to manage your billing, invoices, and licenses, then check out our Business Setup Guide
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To learn about other AxCrypt products, check out other AxCrypt guides: AxCrypt Guides
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Check out our plans and pricing to compare and choose the best plan for you: AxCrypt Price Plan | Easy to use affordable encryption software
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Want to dive deeper into encryption best practices? Check out our blog: Blogs on easy-to-use 128-bit and 256-bit encryption tool (axcrypt.net)
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