Google: Forcing DLP onto your company

A couple of days ago, Google announced that Google Docs was going to support all types of files, would cap a single file upload at 250MB and allow up to 1GB per user of data storage.

For the average user, this is awesome news. I get to have anywhere access to important files, can share with other Google Docs users, and don't need to use a USB key to copy files from work to bring them home for working on them at a later time.

WAIT!

Does a company seriously want corporate documents stored on a "cloud" server? I mean, emailing work back home, storing a document on a usb key, portable HDD, etc is one thing (and not necessarily a good one)...This is something completely different. Not only is intellectual data leaving the company premises, but it is also leaving your network and being stored on another company’s server. I know Google says they do no evil, but something there is seriously wrong with this picture…

I would suggest that companies look into restricting these types of sites before important documents are lost in the cloud. What's your take on the impact of Google Docs and other cloud storage solutions on your company's security?

Thanks for reading!

Graham Thompson, CISSP
http://www.miw.ca/