Desktop-search tools have become one of the industry's hottest trends, promising to extend the ease of searching for Web pages to the finding of hard-drive files and data. While end-users may jump at the chance to uncover their lost e-mails or past Web page visits, analysts and IT executives are warning enterprises to think twice about desktop search because of its potential to reveal personal and confidential information on corporate computers.
The problem, they say, isn't necessarily the technology behind desktop search, but rather the unintended consequences of being able to instantly locate previously hard-to-find data such as e-mails and cached Web pages. The retrieval of Web history is the biggest cause for concern, said Timothy Hickernell, a vice president at IT research company The META Group Inc. Hickernell issued a client advisory last month warning IT departments about the risks of desktop search.
News source: eWeek
