SAC that is “Search Across Computers” enables the searcher
to search documents and viewed web pages across all
computers owned ( ie. in use) by the searcher. For
example, the searcher can get access to files at any
net
enabled computer that he edited on some other computer.
As
a prerequisite, the searcher needs to use a login
account
in Google. Furthermore, the searcher has to install
Google
Desktop at all the computers he needs to search across.
SAC’s preference has to be enabled.
When SAC is
enabled any items accessed on one computer will be
found
when searched from the other computers as well. Items
indexed before enabling SAC are not visible from the
other
computers.
Search Across Computers enables the
files like Word documents, Spread sheets, powerpoint
presentations searchable from any of the networked
computers with Google’s SAC enabled and Google Desktop
installed. Web history from most of the browsers like
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla etc is also
accessible
across the computers. Https Web history is however not
accessible across the computers in SAC mode.
SAC has
raised eyebrows at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
and
Gartner Group which advise the corprorate
administrators to
turn this feature off because of the inherent security
risks.
According to some experts, including
lawyers
for IT industry watchers Electronic Frontier
Foundation,
the function could make personal or corporate
data "more
vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and
possibly
private litigants" while also providing a "convenient
one-
stop-shop for hackers" were they to obtain a user's
Google
password and therefore be able to access any data
shared
with Search Across Computers.
Gartner states that
sensitive documents may be inadvertently shared by
workers,
who may not have specialist knowledge of regulatory or
security restrictions.
Gartner has reported that
the
transport (of data) outside the enterprise would
represent
an unacceptable security risk to many enterprises. This
will result in intellectual property be transported out
of
the business. (Source: CNet)
Gartner recommends that
if
the businesses use Google Desktop for Enterprise, that
allows systems administrators to centrally turn off the
Search Across Computers feature, which it said should
be "immediately disabled."
Google bids fair and
suggests that Google Desktop 3 for Enterprises allows
administrator to disable the feature and is disabled by
default.
At a tech conference in Philadelphia,
Senior
technical Executives admitted that SAC feature in the
new
feature in Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise beta can
result
in data leaks and hence compromise on security because
this
feature automatically stores copies of data on multiple
computers.
This caveat, howsoever, can be removed
with
the steps taken by the corporate security officials and
IT
administrators. Users are tempted to this feature
because
of the convenience of data access across the computers
in
an indexed fashion that can improve upon the
productivity.
Google Desktop Features Summary says about
SAC "In
order to share your indexed files between your
computers,
we first copy this content to Google Desktop servers
located at Google. . . We store this data temporarily
on
Google Desktop servers and automatically delete older
files "
Further to it, It is possible to encrypt the
index Google Desktop creates albeit the Google Desktop
Features Summary says, "Enabling this feature will
reduce
the performance of Google Desktop due to the extra work
of
doing the required encryption and decryption. This
feature
makes use of the Windows Encrypted File System (EFS)
feature." (This only works on NTFS volumes.)
Google’s
Executive professed "Users' wts are driving a lot of
IT
direction," and further added "But it is still the
prerogative and goal of business to make decisions on
thr
security … and get a security strategy. At the end of
the
day, if a user wants to subvert those policies and push
information outside that enterprise, they probably
will;
Companies need to ensure that they have a strategy
they're
comfortable with."
The address was part of the
annual technology conference sponsored by University of
Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. The
executive
suggested corporate management must build security
walls
and set policies to guard internal data, and that
requirement is growing as the line between personal and
corporate search blurs.
"The line between personal
and
work is going away," told the Google executive. " It's
customization of the enterprise IT. More and more
consumers
are driving what user expectations are in the
enterprise."
Using Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise, PC users
will
also need to have administrative permissions to
introduce
the technology on their devices, a responsibility that
few
companies are willing to hand out to most employees in
the
current era of widely distributed malicious software
programs and viruses. (Source eweek.com)
"Google
wants
to give enterprises maximum control over how this
product
is used and employed within the corporate environment,"
a
Google’s executive said. "On flip side, for consumers,
as a
service provider we want to be as up-front and
transparent
as possible about how the data is treated, and they are
forced to go through many steps, and agree to policies
before using
; our goal isn't to trick
anyone." (Source eweek.com)
.
An article in
seochat.com by Mike McEwan titled “Google`s Search
Across
Computers, a Privacy FauxPas? “claims that Search
Across
Computers (SAC) is not the security problem that it has
been made out to be. This article demonstrates the
software
and evaluates the risk. This article demonstrates the
software and evaluates the risk.