Archive - November 2000
Vulnerability at the Highest Level: Corporate Boards
Imagine a boardroom a generation ago. Smoke fills the air and sidebar discussions thrive while the board members wait for the presentation to begin. Manila packets filled with research, financials and other sensitive information are distributed around the table. The meeting progresses; a decision might be made, and afterwards the packets would be collected in their entirety and destroyed lest they end up falling into the wrong hands, compromising company research or spilling sensitive secrets.
So what happens today where technology is so prevalent? In a recent August-September 2011 study, Thomson Reuters conducted a survey of general counsel and corporate secretaries to understand how company information is secured when provided to corporate board members. The survey titled “Better board governance: Communication, security and technology in a global landscape of change” looked at a global cross section of companies from a variety of industries. These companies ranged in size from under $500 million to over $10 billion. The results indicated a lack of secure procedures for corporate board information management.
