Securing Boardroom Communications: Do’s and Don’ts for the ‘New Normal’

As more business conversations take place in the digital world, corporate executives have no choice but to ensure board communications stay private and secure. Here, Dr. Galina Datskovsky, CEO of Vaporstream, explains why it is important to maintain boardroom privacy in the remote work era. Also, check out solutions that can help protect confidential information and mitigate cyber risks. 

For the last seven months, organizations across every sector have had to adapt to remote work. This ‘new normal’ could extend indefinitely, with 55% of employers expecting that most of their workers will continue to work remotelyOpens a new window at least part of the week-long after COVID-19 is gone. At the same time, organizations must continue to comply with regulations that still hold. This means that all organizations should have a plan in place for private and compliant communication – especially when it comes to board meetings.

The first thing that organizations need to recognize is that security does not equal privacy and that security alone is not enough. Board communications often require great privacy and, in fact, you expect your board members to be extremely mindful of the communications remaining private.

So, what is the difference between security and privacy? Security restricts people’s access to certain systems and data. Privacy ensures that you remain in control of your data at all times and only authorized usage is possible. As an example, many corporations have policies under legal jurisdiction that ban services like carrier text, email and WhatsApp. This is a security measure. 

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Many use a board management software solution instead of those services, but even with “secure” tools for workflow management, attendance tracking, and file sharing, information can still be inadvertently exposed whether as a result of hacking or a slip of the finger that results in information being forwarded to the wrong person. It could just be a disgruntled board member who decides to share confidential information via a text. This is a privacy problem, complicated by the fact that boards are often not trained in the importance of keeping these discussions private. Organizations must look for a way to ensure communications are completely private – so that they can’t be leaked due to human error or a ransomware attack. Doing that requires security and privacy.

For boards, understanding these distinctions is important and bringing the two together requires a careful balance. With board meetings going virtual, boards must find a way to keep private information private. At the same time, however, they must meet retention policies. Despite claims from many consumer messaging applications like Signal or Telegram, they do not provide any way to create a record should a corporation require it, and certainly not a record that belongs to the corporation instead of the provider. In choosing a consumer-grade platform, you eliminate the oversight that is the bedrock of board communication and corporate compliance.

How to Make Remote Boardrooms Private

To start with, you’ll want to consider the factors that could compromise privacy, placing confidentiality and compliance at risk. Think about the board member’s behaviors. Are board members fully engaged in online meetings or do they seem distracted? This may seem like a minor area to be concerned with but multitasking board members who are texting, emailing or web surfing during a meeting could accidentally leak private information, breaching confidentiality. Additionally, board members should never be using personal media such as texting or email to discuss material corporate topics with each other. Organizations should ensure that directors and officers communicate about company matters only on company communication platforms and that during virtual meetings they’re disabling personal communications. 

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When it comes to making the remote boardroom private, privacy and compliance go hand in hand. As you take the steps needed to protect private information you should keep in mind that compliance with regulations is essential. Another area that you will want to think about is record retention. Distributing confidential materials – and retaining control of them – can be especially difficult electronically. Opt for mediums that let you maintain control of your records in order to meet your compliance policies.

With remote work an integral part of our new reality, we have to find new and innovative ways to recreate things we took for granted before – like the privacy of a boardroom. An important part of that is understanding the relationship between privacy, security, and compliance. Organizations should focus on bringing the three together, along with superior usability so that businesses and boards can recreate the privacy of the boardroom – all while working remotely. 

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