Litéra White Paper Describes Risk From Hidden Information Leaked on Mobile Devices

Source: Litéra

McLeansville, N.C.—June 5th, 2012 — As many as 10 percent of e-mails sent from businesses could contain sensitive information in the form of hidden data, according to a white paper published by Litéra. This volume of potential leaks accounts only for those businesses that have metadata cleaning software installed on employees’ desktop computers, so the amount of sensitive information being transmitted is ostensibly much greater across all businesses.

The white paper, “Risks in a Mobile World of Hidden Data in Documents”, describes the implications of increasing mobile device usage at companies and the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend. These workplace realities compound the risks associated with sharing damaging information via mobile devices.

“The reputation of an individual, business or agency can be irreparably damaged by the unintended inclusion of sensitive metadata in a released document,” said Karen Massand, Litéra’s president. “Our research shows how the increase in mobile device usage has intensified the problem and explains the risks and how they can be easily mitigated.”

The Litéra survey of more than 300 executives found that 96 percent of smartphone and tablet users access business e-mail from their devices and 86 percent forward e-mail with attached documents.

The whitepaper highlights the need for more stringent security measures, such as the use of metadata cleaning tools, given the prevalence of mobile device usage and people’s increased use of personally-owned tablets to conduct business activities. The paper concludes that a best practice is to automatically clean all documents attached to business e-mail , whether they are sent from an office workstation, mobile phone or tablet.

Litéra is the maker of Metadacte, the only patented server-based metadata removal software product for messages sent via e-mail, webmail and mobile devices.

The whitepaper, based on an investigation by Litéra researchers and Litéra’s recent survey of mobile device usage and document security, can be downloaded free at the company’s website.

About Litéra
Litéra is a Gold certified Microsoft ISV and offers a comprehensive suite of document creation, collaboration, comparison, control and cleansing software that provide users with unsurpassed content confidence enabling them to manage their documents and data with a degree of control not available through any other solution on the market. Litéra’s patented professional productivity applications meet the critical content and risk management needs of today’s business professionals, including many of the world’s leading law firms and major corporations. For more information visit, www.litera.com