Open Secret: Cisco Site Shares Privacy Approach
Photo of Van Dang by Melissa Barnes
Safeguarding information from the onslaught of rapidly advancing technologies that track, store and share sensitive data is one of the greatest concerns among businesses and law firms. Internet giant Cisco Systems feels it has found a collaborative approach to privacy, and it’s sharing its story right out there on the Web.
“Privacy is an evolving area and there’s going to be a lot of changes to come. So let’s share our best practices,” says Van Dang, Cisco’s deputy general counsel. Dang recently launched a cloud-based privacy portal on her company’s website so clients and corporations can explore Cisco’s privacy and compliance programs, as well as comment about their own best practices.
The portal contains compliance reference materials such as agreement templates and security checklists, and it also promotes Cisco products. The portal hosts a community forum to encourage feedback, and it links to law firm and industry blogs on privacy and security issues. Dang hopes to eventually build a fully interactive platform that allows law firms to create and add their own content directly on the site.
Developed during a nine-week flurry by Dang and a team of Cisco professionals last winter, the project is intended to help legal departments and law firms offer greater client and consumer protection with fewer resources, while creating collaborative industry standards for best practices.
Dang says, “It is easier to do business when everyone is speaking the same language” regarding privacy and security compliance practices and policies “and understands how to separate the issues to be addressed from the nonissues.”
