November 17, 2016

Is Email Safe for Your Board?

In today’s world, more and more companies are using board portals and it’s not uncommon to hear of the three-ring binder board book. Other companies have made the leap to providing board books electronically by sending documents via email. The security issues with printing and paper are obvious and have been discussed at length and thanks to the recent election email security has also been a hot topic. These headlines and issues further highlight that board portal security far outweighs the alternatives.

Email vs Board Portal Security

Regardless of your political opinions, there are many similarities between board members and organizations using email to provide sensitive documents and recent headlines. The reality is that your board members do not use email that is protected, managed, or secured by your organization. Once an email is sent, it’s no longer in the control of the company and there is a reasonable assumption that your information could be intercepted/hacked. secure-documents

Salesforce made recent headlines in September when the email of Colin Powell (one of Salesforce’s board members) had been hacked. In these emails, which had been emailed for review prior to a meeting, a presentation of Salesforce acquisition targets was acquired and leaked which revealed 14 possible targets along with competitive information. Ultimately, Salesforce hasn’t crumbled after the hack, but what repercussions were there? At a minimum, their strategy was no longer held secret and some leverage was lost. I’m sure you can imagine some of your confidential information and the havoc it could wreak in the wrong hands.

Board Portal Security Protects Your Sensitive Information

The bottom line is that in our rapidly changing world where technology continues to grow at increasingly faster speeds, we can no longer consider email a safe form of information distribution. This holds particularly true for boards of directors which see the most confidential information about a company. Board members need to be more vigilant with the information to which they have privilege, but the ultimate responsibility falls on the company. Does your company use board portal software like Govenda?

Tag(s): Cybersecurity