Privacy Digest

Mounting scrutiny for Google security | InfoWorld | News | 2007-07-12 | By Matt Hines: "As Google moves into the business environment, it is starting to face the same security questions other business app vendors face

Much as the ubiquity of Microsoft's Windows operating system and Office productivity tools has made the software giant a focal point of security research, search giant Google is facing new scrutiny as it diversifies its products and moves further into the business environment.

In a report to be published on July 16, researchers at Ponemon Institute will detail their findings about existing concerns among IT professionals regarding the overall security of Google Desktop, the company's PC search utility, specifically within the confines of business operations.

And while the research revolves around the only significant security flaw to be unearthed in the program thus far -- a cross-site scripting vulnerability reported and subsequently patched by Google in February -- authors of the report contend that their work illustrates a growing level of concern over the massive company's rapidly expanding footprint.

Google Desktop marries PC and Web-based technologies in a similar manner as many other products the company has launched in the last several years, such as its Google Apps document system, which competes directly with Microsoft Office.

If the company is to succeed in its plans to replace Office with Google Apps and drive other applications such as Desktop further into businesses, Ponemon researchers said, the company must be ready to face a wave of inquisition over the potential security impact those products will have.

In the Ponemon survey of more than 600 IT security specialists who indicated that they were familiar with the Google Desktop vulnerability, an overwhelming 71 percent said that they believe that the product likely harbors other security flaws. "

(Read Original Article - Via InfoWorld | News | 2007-07-12 | By Matt Hines.)