never-ever-****-with-my.net

Just as Google releases Spreadsheets (a total non-event for serious Excel users), an interesting discussion surfaced on Slashdot.  The article links to an interesting paper by Raymond R. Panko at University of Hawai'i about what is known about spreadsheet errors.  The conclusion says:

"All in all, the research done to date in spreadsheet development presents a very disturbing picture.  Every study that has attempted to measure errors, without exception, has found them at rates that would be unacceptable in any organization.  These error rates, furthermore, are completely consistent with error rates found in other human activities.  With such high cell error rates, most large spreadsheets will have multiple errors, and even relatively small "scratch pad" spreadsheets will have a significant probability of error."

Also, the article links to the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG) and its collection of public reports of spreadsheet errors.

As reported by Computerworld, the US Army is using SRS Technologies' Document Detective to sanitize documents and avoid inadvertent exposure of sensitive or extraneous information.

The product's functionalities clearly go beyond metadata cleansing (i.e. Microsoft's free Remove Hidden Data tool for Office) as it is possible to convert embedded objects into safer object types (i.e. when an entire Excel workbook ends up in a PowerPoint presentation although you only intended to paste a summary chart). Document Detective also implements workflows to transfer documents from one security domain to another.

It should be noted that SRS Technologies maintains a suggested reading list that contains articles and information regarding electronic document security and incidents that occurred because of improper or incomplete reviews.

Update 2006/10/14: Marco Casario points out a number of interesting resources to remove sensitive information from Acrobat PDF documents. In particular, have a look at Adobe's Technical Note on Redaction of Confidential Information in Electronic Documents (Acrobat PDF).

As reported by Reuters, the existence of the previously rumored GDrive online storage service surfaced after a blogger discovered apparent notes in a presentation supposedly published by error on Google's site after its analysts presentation day last Thursday.

"With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc)," the notes in the original Google presentation state.

Chief Executive Eric Schmidt in his presentation made a cryptic comment that one goal of Google was to "store 100 percent" of consumer information.

As reported by Computerworld, the FTC settled with CardSystems over last summer's data breach, which may have exposed 40M credit cards.

CardSystems must adopt security measures, undergo independent audits for the next 20 years. It still faces potential liability for millions of dollars in private lawsuits for losses.