American Banker recently noted PonemonInstitute and Palo Alto Networks surveys that indicate anincreasing number of employees, some of whom work at financialservices organizations, are using Internet-sharing sites to storecompany information.
Sites like Dropbox or YouSendIt often are used as a method to savebackup files as some companies do not provide backup services foremployees working remotely or when traveling. Employees can savetheir files to such sites, which are in the cloud, for retrieval atanother time and place.
Similarly, as some companies are moving away from having acorporate standard for smartphones and other connected devices,many are in effect creating a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)environment, where employees can access company files and systemsvia their own personal devices.
Even though employees in both of these scenarios may have the bestof intentions in mind, unintended consequences can occur. Examplesinclude the possibility of lost data or files, data breaches, filesynchronization errors, and inconsistencies of files caused byversion control issues. This is why financial institutions shouldinstitute (or reiterate) corporate policies on the use, sharing,and backup of company data on all devices at all locations.
