How to Protect Confidential Documents for Boards of Directors

Board members are privy huge amounts of confidential information as they perform their fiduciary responsibility. This information often has both business and personal elements and implications. It could include sensitive boardroom discussions with corporate executives, strategic initiatives, possible acquisitions, legal and competition-related threats, as well as the deliberations of other board members. This type of information is not protected by law, but it can be used to breach a director’s fiduciary duties and www.dataroomabout.com/advantages-of-having-a-virtual-data-room/ expose the director and the company to significant legal liability.

The board should adopt an official confidentiality policy that covers all confidential information it receives and discuss. The policy should be included in the member’s handbook. The board should also require all members to acknowledge it and agree to abide by its terms. The board should state that the policy will be in force even after a director’s term is over and that if the director is found to have breached the policy then they will not be eligible to serve on the board in the future.

The board should limit the number of physical copies and use the board portal that has security that is enterprise grade to share sensitive documents. This will ensure that the information is not available to anyone who is not authorized and not easily lost or stolen. In the ideal scenario, the platform will allow users to define print and download rights, watermarks that include an expiration date and a time stamp and reports that give an overview of who opened, printed or downloaded documents.