Desktop-search risks deserve close management scrutiny

Network World - As more end users employ desktop search tools from Google, MSN and Yahoo, IT managers increasingly must establish policies, standardize tools and protect their networks from data exposure, compliance breaches and poor performance, experts say.

Desktop search tools make searching client-systems data stores, multimedia files, application documents and e-mail programs faster and easier. But these consumer-oriented tools also represent a potential risk to corporate networks if restricted files are shared or end users gain unauthorized access to improperly secured documents. Worse yet, some tools such as Google Desktop have features that let end users search across multiple computers by storing index information remotely on external servers. Although this type of software has features that let users exclude directories from the search domain, many might not do so without proper policies in place.

"There are a lot of consumer-oriented tools like Google Desktop that users want but are not necessarily good for the business. And there are an increasing number of consumer products -- such as iPods, cell phones, laptops and Zip drives -- that can store enterprise data," says Peter Firstbrook, a research director at Gartner. To mitigate the threat of exposing critical data, Firstbrook says, IT managers need to "get really good at software and configuration management so they understand what programs are in the computing fleet and get information that helps them understand the impact."

Desktop search isn't the first technology end users have brought into the network that poses security and performance problems for IT managers. For example, instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing programs have prepared many network managers for the potential performance problems desktop search could represent. And it won't be the last, according to Firstbrook.

He says client-systems management software from such companies as Altiris, LANDesk and Novell help customers master software configuration management on desktops, but he recommends products such as Windows Defender Anti-Spyware as a good example of a tool to detect spyware.

Andrew Abramczyk, manager of IT information services within the Operations and Support department of Erie Insurance Group in Erie, Pa., says his experience with desktop search also gave him some experience with spyware -- which in turn creates performance problems on the client machine.

"We have run into situations where people have downloaded and installed these search tools, and they have created some havoc -- mostly with respect to spyware," Abramczyk says. "This in turn causes problems with the PC not performing acceptably, sometimes to the point where we have to reimage the PC. This is a particular sore point for my group; as the main support for the desktops, we have had to spend a great deal of time getting users' PCs rebuilt."