Whatever the size of the board or the company, it's essential that boards safeguard confidential documents. The documents are secured to ensure that it is not accessible by anyone without authorization. This helps to keep information from being leaked that could data protection and efficient workflow impact the business or cause loss of trust.

To address these concerns, it is important to establish a comprehensive policy. The ideal policy would declare that directors are required to keep confidential all material non-public information they acquire or obtain while serving on the board. The policy should also clearly define what constitutes confidential information and include a clear definition of what constitutes confidential information and the breach of confidentiality will be considered to be a violation against the director's fiduciary obligation to the company.

The policy should also outline what the board's response to a breach. The board should, generally look at a range of responses, ranging from censure by fellow directors to, in the worst case, removal from board. This will ensure that the policy is viewed seriously and is enforced if the need arises.

It is imperative that the secretary use the board management and distribution program to establish an effective document security system. Such systems can be implemented in a matter of minutes and offer the administrative and digital rights management (DRM) controls needed to support the board's secretary in distributing documents to the board. The system offers the option of establishing specific access privileges for each person, such as limitations on viewing and printing and PDF expiry dates, visible watermarks, and the ability of viewing who has had access to the document.