Firms issued with internet warning

News Article - 30 May 2007
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Companies have been warned over the dangers of becoming complacent about the amount of data they retain on the internet.

Security firm Cyber-Ark has called on businesses to be more careful about how they use data and allow it to flow over the internet, following the move by the European Union to investigate Google.

The EU has decided to act against Google because it is concerned about the length of time the search engine giant is retaining data on its users' internet searches.

Google has been retaining such data for up to two years and the EU's Article 29 Data Protection working party has asked the firm to justify such a long retention of data.

Therefore, firms are being advised to be careful over the data they have retained.

Calum Macleod, European director at Cyber-Ark, warned: "Companies that use the internet for their communications need to take great care when transmitting company data across the internet, whether via regular email or FTP technology.

"Commercially sensitive information can often end up where it should not and, perhaps worse, even be accessible to smart searches using Google."

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