Security and Privacy Issues with Google Wave

Hello

By now everyone has heard the buzz about Google's newest product, Google Wave. Google Wave is an online tool that lets users instantaneously communicate and share information. Any user of the Wave can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the Wave. The Wave can also be played back to review the Wave's content.

This technology sounds pretty cool. However, there are some privacy and security concerns regarding the use of Google Wave. The following are two features of Google Wave that can potentially lead to privacy and security risks for a company.

1. Any member can add someone else to the Wave without the other member's permission. This is a serious security risk. If members of the Wave are discussing trade secrets, or confidential information, an unauthorized person can be added and have access to that information.

2. A user can load gadgets or other third-party applications to the Wave and these gadgets can have access to other participants information.

When protecting confidential or trade secrets, confidential information is only 'secret' if appropriate measures are taken to protect confidential information. This includes restricting access to confidential or company secrets to a select few individuals. If confidential or secret information is exchanged on Google Wave, this information can be compromised. The ability to add individuals to the Wave without prior approval or restrictions is a serious security risk for any business.

In addition, the ability to add third party applications or gadgets to the Wave without prior verification or approval from the administrator of the Wave presents another set of security issues. These third party gadgets can have malicious code that will not become apparent until the gadget is added.

Google Wave is a neat tool for collaborative projects. However, if a group of individuals are working on highly confidential or top secret projects, I do not recommend using Google Wave as a collaborative tool. The potential security risks are just too great.

I welcome your thoughts!