Cloud content management company Box Inc. is bringing new content security controls and intelligent threat detection capabilities to its users with the launch today of Box Shield.

Box Shield was announced as a private beta a year ago at the file-sharing company’s annual BoxWorks conference. The service, which is built natively into Box’s content management suite, is used to detect anomalies and risky user behavior within Box and prevent data from being stolen or misused.

With Box Shield, company administrators can better protect their data by automatically or manually setting security classifications and policies for specific types of files and folders stored within Box. So, for example, only certain employees would be allowed to share links to a specific file. Other restrictions include limiting external collaboration on certain kinds of files and only allowing specific users to download them.

Box Shield also uses machine learning to alert administrators to any abnormal behavior that could indicate a user’s account has been hacked. For example, if user suddenly displays changes to download behavior, or logs in from an unusual location, the account would automatically be flagged, and depending on the pre-set policies, could be prevented from accessing or downloading files.

These alerts can also be integrated with third-party security and analytics software from companies such as Splunk Inc. and Symantec Corp. for customers that need deeper insights into their user’s activity.

“Enterprises need an integrated approach to their security that is woven into the fabric of their business processes,” said Lakshmi Hanspal, Box’s global chief information security officer, said in a statement. “Box Shield brings adaptive security controls and threat detection directly to workflows in Box with easy to use, built-in controls that help reduce risk.”

Officials said Box Shield will become generally available to all users this fall.

Image: Box