LA Police Department Considers "Going Google"
In a recent Los Angeles Police Protective League blog post, President Paul M. Weber raised some concerns about the boys in blue switching to Google-hosted services. The group received their latest computer system after donations from the Michael Jackson memorial service at the Staples Center crashed the department website and took out their old system for most of the day. As the second-largest city in the US, they knew they needed to modernize; however, Weber raises legitimate concerns over the department's consideration of a $7.25 million contract with Google to replace the city's email and records retention system.
Said Weber, "This is a complex technological issue that demands careful study and planning by the city. Before the city introduces an outside entity into the chain of custody, sufficient safeguards need to be in place to secure confidential information. We will be closely monitoring this issue for the security of both our members and the sensitive information they access on a daily basis."
As covered by ReadWriteWeb, Twittergate is one example of how Google may be left open to security breaches. The documents stolen from Twitter were Google Docs, and because they were not hosted behind a firewall, Twitter's business plan was more easily obtained. In this case, as with most cases, human error and insecure passwords are to blame. In order to use Google services, the LAPD would have to be particularly cautious to back up their records and follow password protocol.
Google's "Going Google" campaign recently launched to encourage businesses to switch to Google Apps in the workplace. 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations are currently using Google Apps in the office, including Motorola, University of Notre Dame and the Mercy Corps. For many businesses considering the service, security still remains the biggest question.
Thanks to Eric for the tip!
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The word security is overused, as is the word firewall. As I understand it the twittergate affair occurred when the perpetrator guessed the secondary password recovery question/ answer. Clearly this is a gap in the Google password approach, but it is neither infor security nor firewall related.
The LA police could use Google Docs with no online password recovery for example. Lets evaluate Google security on that basis.