Thomson Reuters Survey Shows Most Corporate Board Correspondence Easily Hacked

A global survey of corporate boards published yesterday by Thomson Reuters concludes that most boards are transparent to the lowest level of hacking efforts. According to the survey, published through Thomson Reuters' London office:

Most major corporations surveyed have significant security gaps that leave sensitive board-level information open to information theft and hacking. Those are among the findings of a new survey of board members of UK and global corporations conducted by Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance. The findings are particularly noteworthy in light of recent news stories about the handling of board communications involving executive succession decisions at companies including Yahoo and Apple.

The survey found that information provided to members of corporate boards of directors is often in unencrypted email accounts and computers, or otherwise provided in forms that are easily lost, misplaced or stolen. The Thomson Reuters Governance, Risk & Compliance survey polled general counsel and board members at leading global corporations across a wide variety of industries.

Unencrypted board communications	85%
Board documents stored on personal computers at home or work	79%
Board documents stored on personal mobile devices (e.g., iPad, laptop, smartphone, etc.)	75%
Documents sent to board members via personal, non-commercial email addresses	73%
Board documents accessible via wi-fi or unsecured networks	71%
Have reported computer, mobile devices, or sensitive company documents lost, stolen or left in public places	10%