Fix Those Leaks with Added Document Security

The term document can refer to any number of things. Regardless of what type of business you are in, somewhere or somehow you have documents of some kind. A document can be an interoffice memo, employee personnel records, an invoice containing purchase information, a draft press release or the office electrical bill. Whatever it may be, it’s likely that it contains some sort of sensitive information that you don’t want floating around for anyone to see.

If you operate in retail, you don’t want your customer’s credit card information to fall into the wrong hands, or maybe you’re working on a secret new invention that will change technology forever, you certainly don’t want your competitors picking up on the details. Any business, or organization for that matter, has a need to keep its documents secure and if there are any doubts, just ask the current situation facing the U.S. Military.

As it has been well noted by the media, roughly 76,000 pages of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan were leaked to, and then posted on, a website known as WikiLeaks. The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has defended his actions by asserting any information alleging military wrong-doing should be made available to the public instead of being suppressed. Government officials say the release of these documents could jeopardize the lives on troops as some of the documents may contain operational information.

The documents were given to WikiLeaks by a Pfc (Private First Class). Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst, who had been reprimanded once before for leaking a 2007 Iraq battle video.  Some people say those documents were classified and should have stayed as such, while others believe that Manning is a hero for doing what he believes is right.  Then there are those who believe that nothing new was learned from what was leaked. Whatever your opinion is on this matter one thing is for sure, these documents were not adequately secure.

Now if the U.S. Military faces these problems, what about your company? Situations like this spotlight the need for any organization to have a quality document management system. Not only will it improve efficiency and organization, but offers an extra level of security-- against outside hackers, in-house saboteurs, just to name a few.  Document software can be password protected and allows you to control access as well as track who has looked at which documents and when. While this won’t necessarily guarantee a security breach won’t occur, it will at least allow you to more easily pinpoint the guilty party.

 Not having a secure document management system can lead to a multitude of headaches for your company. Leaked or stolen customer information can lead to lost revenues and even lawsuits while lost employee records can lead to high turnover rates. Forming business partnerships will also be hard to do if potential partners question the security of any of their documents that might end up on your system.