Loose Lips Sink Product Launches

I was flying out to Interop Monday morning when I heard two execs a row ahead of me talking about a big upcoming product announcement. They might as well have just chucked all their expensive corporate security technologies out the window.Their company must have firewalls and password protections. They might even have intrusion detection and intrusion prevention. Encryption. I bet they even encrypt their critical data. They must have policies about protecting their laptops and handheld devices.

Too bad none of that technology could have kept them from talking about an important product launch on a packed plane. Oh, let me be more clear. It was a plane packed with computer industry people heading to Interop. You know ... the types of people who would be interested to find out that this company is coming out with a new product.

I wonder if someone from one of their competitors was on the plane. Maybe not an executive who they might recognize but some salesperson or PR person -- someone who would be eager to go back to his or her bosses with this tidbit and look like a real hero.

You can have all the best security tools but if someone is going to sit on a packed plane -- or in a busy coffee shop or at an industry cocktail party -- talking about information best kept under wraps, the technology isn't going to do you any good. Remind your executives and road warriors that a competitor, or a reporter, could be sitting just one row in back of them.