Managing Secrets

Special Report: The Ordinary Work of Security
Survey on the Uses of Email in an Organization
By Emmanuel Kessous
English

This article considers the management of professional secrets from a pragmatic point of view, based on a survey undertaken at a large service provider. It starts by looking at the information management prescribed in the firm concerned, as these common rules provide a framework in which employees are able to act. It then examines how the actors themselves qualify information, whether they are specialists of confidential information (jurists, communication experts, IP experts) or ordinary users (managers, marketers, researchers, secretaries). Finally, the author analyses the impact of communication activities in this context, notably via email. One of the conclusions is that the management and estimated sensitivity of information depend as much on the actors' professional activity as on the nature of the relations through which this interaction is accomplished.

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