Do you know that today even the most technologically advanced companies need to take the necessary steps to protect their confidential data? It was revealed last week that someone within Google leaked information on how much major corporates spent on advertsing with Google. This leak must have been a major cause for concern to Google because BP which was one of the companies that increased spending as a public relations exercise to stem the damage to its image as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf was also listed.
Does Google now go to these major customers that it was unable to secure its confidential data properly and as result the world now knows how much they spent with it? How this translates or impacts Google’s future revenue stream from the global corporations listed in the leaked document is hard to tell, but Google would have to mount its own charm offensive to assure these top customers that it is taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again.
The official statement from Google was “We can’t comment on these figures because we haven’t seen the document in question or determined what these numbers represent,” said Dennis Woodside, VP of Google Americas Operations. “We’re now looking into the possibility that someone improperly disclosed confidential information about our clients, and [we] will take all appropriate action.”
I wonder if Google uses persistent security tools like Enterprise Rights Management, as well as Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) to prevent confidential from being leaked. Even though Google is a great company known to treat its staff with dignity and loyalty, there still needs to be endpoint security tools in place to at best prevent accidental data breaches.
Make no mistake, the future of many global coporates is going to depend on how they can manage and protect their confidential data. We now without any doubt live in the information age, and information is a major currency that individuals and corporates will like to trade to gain a financial or competitive edge. This is Hollywood stuff, you may say but this is not far fetched. If Google is vulnerable to a data breach, so are you.
Data Source Credit: adage.com
