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5 Ways Google Is Shaking the Security World

Whether you're charged with preventing hacks, protecting assets, stopping fraud or defending trademarks, Google and other search engines present a new mix of risks for everybody in the security game.

What to do: It's time to catch up—something that Brown says is especially important given the fact that Sarbanes-Oxley requires companies to keep tabs on where and how long their information is retained. Consider whether your users actually need desktop search for their jobs. If they do, you'll want to have a hand in how it's configured and used. (Bonus points go to the CSO who makes sure that users understand the privacy implications of all these tools, beyond just telling them to read the privacy policy.)

At the FDA, Stine is in the early stages of looking at the tool. "There have been some requests [for desktop search] here and there, but there hasn't been a user outcry," he says. If (or when) there comes a point when a lot of users have a legitimate need for desktop search, Stine says he'll look carefully at how the technology identifies, indexes and presents information. "We'd have to ensure that we still maintain complete control—at least as complete as possible—over the information," he says.

Fortunately, he'd have plenty of options. Several companies have enterprise desktop search tools that help CISOs keep tabs on the information. Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise, currently in beta, allows administrators to completely disable features such as the Search Across Computers feature. Google says it is working make future versions of this tool easier to manage. "I don't think we anticipated such a concerned or negative response," Glotzbach says. "We've taken to heart the feedback on the Search Across Computers feature, especially in the enterprise context, and we're actively working on making it even easier for the companies to use" in a secure manner, he says.

X1 Technologies, which has partnered with Yahoo, offers a competing enterprise search tool that Brown says is more manageable from an IT perspective. "Part of the problem with these technologies is they get announced and people immediately start downloading," Brown says. "It takes companies a little while to catch on to what's happening."

Shock waves: 4 (highest). Desktop search is an untested technology with a wide potential for misuse. If your users don't need it, don't let them use it; if they do need it, consider enterprise tools that can be centrally managed and controlled.

Future Shocks

Google has shaken us, by holding up a mirror and forcing us to look at what we've put online. "Google provides a lot of capability that can do you harm as well as providing you search capabilities," Winkler says. "What makes it its strength makes it its danger."