IT managers to ban Google Desktop over security fears.
According to the article published by Silicon.com, UK IT managers are taking measures to ban and purge Google Desktop (GDS) on their networks. It is said on the article that one of the main reason is that the new version of GDS which allows ‘search across computers’ poses an unacceptable risk to many organizations.
Upon just reading the first few lines of the story, I can immediately say this story is just blown out of proportion and a total BS. First of all, on a corporate network setup GDS should never be installed nor anything else should be installed unless its required to perform the task assigned to a project or IT department on general which usually falls in the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) of the company.
In my opinion, any IT company which allows users to install applications such as GDS, Yahoo IM, Skype, mIRC, p2p or any messaging and desktop enhancements in the first place is just plain lame. Of course they are security risk, any application that’s not audited for security and stability is a risk; it doesn’t only compromise security but productivity as well! If search functionality is really needed by a company they should buy a search appliance which is offered by many search companies as well as Google.
(update)
I have received alot of emails regarding this post and i wish to clarify.
- I'm not saying all the mentioned application would be banned, only that AUP shouldn't allow them to be installed on corporate networks. If you are using it on your own personal/home internet network then its fine.
- In special cases such that companies have disjoint internal and external networks then as long as AUP says it wont endanger the secured network then fine, use it.
- I guess my statement is valid only on "general" corporate setup, but if your asking me if this should hold true under speacial network setups in your own offices then your Administrator and IT managers are the ones more capable of determining the suitable AUP for you :)
