This information is generally referred to as hidden data or Metadata.
Hidden Metadata can be found in:
Sometimes metadata leakage is just embarrassing. However, with new privacy legislation, data leaked in documents can also create financial liabilities or even be criminal. Recent privacy regulations such as HIPA, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and others make it critical that those sharing documents prevent accidental leakage of private information.
Legal professionals should also be especially concerned about metadata. Legal documents are often exchanged electronically and go through many revisions. If a contract is used as a template for a new contract, metadata can easily contain information about the previous version of that contract. Similarly, as edits are made to a document, each revision reveals information about how the document could have existed. This information can give others strategic and potentially damaging insight into your case.
Government employees and contractors should also be especially careful about metadata. These types of workers often create and exchange documents on behalf of their agencies. Metadata can reveal internal names, addresses, email contact information, and more. Documents have been shared which reveal not only information about the most recent editor of a document, but sometimes can contain entire spreadsheets of data, as well as information about the last several authors of that document.
Equally important is to make sure that your organization's email system is protected from accidental sharing of documents which have not been scanned for acciental metadata. Even if authors of documents are aware of the dangers of metadata, it is just too easy to forget when sending a document. Organizations should employ electronic systems which can quickly uncover metadata and notify the sender before the leak occurs. Remember that 90% of information leaks in organizations are accidental. Unless proper tools are in place to protect your employees, it is just too easy to make a mistake.
The main problem is that metadata exists because of features within Microsoft Office. The ability to save revisions, author information, comments, embed spreadsheets, etc are all powerful features created by Microsoft to help document authors. Unfortunately, when sharing these documents with others, these features change from benefits to the author into potentially damaging liabilities. Office 2007 does not change this fundamental problem.
Microsoft did add a new feature to Office 2007 called the "Document Inspector". This feature is great for detecting and cleaning metadata from within Microsoft Word. There is only one problem with this feature. Because it does not integrate with your email system, and because the feature is difficult to find, it is very easy for employees to forget to use it. While it does provide some of the cleaning necessary to discover metadata, it does not prevent accidental leakage of metadata from within your organization.
Automatic Discovery
SendShield integrates with Microsoft Outlook. With every attachment sent or received,
SendShield automatically scans the document for hidden data. If any data is found, it
alerts the user immediately.
Fast, Background Scanning
SendShield is the only Metadata cleaner which can scan in the background and discover
metadata within incoming emails as well as outbound emails. This is because SendShield
integrates proprietary, high-speed scanning algorithms for all Microsoft Office
Documents. The benefit is that users can continue using their email as they always do
with almost no perceptible performance effect on their regular work.
One-click Metadata Cleaning Because SendShield scans in the background, attachments are scanned as the user composes their email. This saves the user time, and also makes sharing documents easier. SendShield does not require the user to navigate complex menus after having pressed "send" for their email. Instead, users get a simple information bar within their compose window, and can have SendShield clean the metadata with a single click.
Quick Conversion to PDF
SendShield also offers a quick PDF conversion from directly within Outlook. Users can
compose and manage documents in Microsoft Word format, and then convert to PDF at the
last moment when sharing the document externally.
Easy Enterprise Deployment
SendShield integrates with Microsoft's Group Policy for simple and easy deployment.
IT administrators can custom set over 20 settings to control how SendShield is
deployed into the work environment and ensure a good experience for their users.
