Challenge

As a public body, Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service always strives for more efficient and effective ways to deliver justice for Brazilians. To become more dynamic, the ministry looked to modernize its e-mail-based information sharing processes, which were limiting the flexibility of prosecutors, reducing the cost-efficiency of its operations, and weakening data security.

Mauro Sobrinho, CIO of Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service, takes up the story: “For our prosecutors to make timely and informed decisions, they need access to highly sensitive data without delay. Previously, our prosecutors either manually shared information with colleagues via e-mail, with cumbersome size restrictions, or relied on DVDs of case data to be sent via post. These manual processes were time-intensive, costly and reduced the security of sensitive information.

“While we incorporated some digital file sharing with iFolder, which helped us synchronize folders across our network, this software had limited capabilities: issuing permissions for important documentation required assistance from the IT department and we were unable to share large files. What’s more, iFolder is not compatible with tablets, smartphones and other portable devices – offering limited work mobility for our staff.”

To drive swift and sure justice, Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service aimed at providing prosecutors with mobile access to data without compromising the security of the highly sensitive information that it handles.

Solution

Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service engaged Micro Focus, a long-standing partner, to explore ways to streamline its information sharing capabilities. After running a successful proof of concept of Filr – a secure, easy-to-use file sharing solution – the public body worked with Micro Focus to implement the solution across all of its departments.

Luciana Tannus, Assistant Chief Information Officer of Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service, explains: “We chose Filr because it offers a versatile, highly secure platform for our prosecutors to share information across a range of devices. As well as facilitating more dynamic working practices, Filr has enabled us to rationalize our IT infrastructure.”

“For instance, each regional department of Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service previously had its own data center to ensure that all data was stored and accessed securely. This made managing this information laborious. With Filr, we now store all information centrally on two on-premise data centers, which our users access remotely – saving the time and cost of running multiple maintenance operations.”

Mauro Sobrinho adds: “Filr lets our users grant different levels of permission to recipients of information; permitting or restricting them from editing and sharing information internally or externally. What’s more, we can set time limits on the duration that links are live. Being able to audit permissions in this way greatly increases the security of our information.

Results

With Filr in place, Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service has improved information security, simplified its IT architecture and reduced costs. Combined, these benefits help the Federal Prosecution Service deliver better justice for Brazilians.

“By eliminating e-mail and DVD-based information sharing, we have greatly decreased the likelihood of sensitive documentation being leaked or stolen,” explains Luciana Tannus. “If information or devices containing important data is lost or stolen, we can remotely wipe that data – mitigating the damage that could be caused by nefarious agents. This added level of security is invaluable, especially as we deal with the most high-profile legal cases in Brazil.

“As a result of moving to digital file sharing, costs have been dramatically reduced. We also managed to save on data center maintenance, after simplifying our storage architecture, which significantly cut the cost and the time that our IT team spent travelling to our data centers spread across the state.”

Mauro Sobrinho concludes: “Our prosecutors are pleased with Filr as it allows them to work remotely with peace of mind. Our IT staff are happy too because it has reduced the number of back-office activities, so they can focus on value-add tasks. Most of all, Filr helps Brazil’s Federal Prosecution Service deliver more agile, swift justice for the people of Brazil.”