[ghshephard]

When I set up the Stock Options system at Netscape (as the Desktop Support guy) back in 1997, It consisted of two computers, connected to each other via a switch, in a Locked room, with a wall all the way to the ceiling to reduce false-ceiling access, with that room also located inside the Secure Legal Office Space. Systems were backed up daily by the users, using encrypted backups to Zip Drives.

It's interesting how when you don't know what the hell you are doing, you sometimes do something reasonably secure by pure happenstance. (Also, I had probably read too much Bruce Schneier when I was a teenager.)

[beagle3]

What exactly did the Stock Options system do? Was it the registry of options? Did the accounting department have such a secure setup?

[ghshephard]

I'm not 100% familiar with what precisely they were tracking. The software was called "Equity Edge", and it involved employee stock options. I do recall contacting their support organization when I realized the data files they were storing on the hard drives didn't seem to be encrypted (the systems were Windows 95). Netscape had two employees whose sole job seemed to be the care and feeding (and data integrity) of this system.

Data was sent to the Accounting Department (and other Lawyers) on Printouts.