Google first made many security analysts very concerned with the release of Google Desktop Search (now called Google Desktop) in October of last year. The first version allowed for access to many secure files and even provided access to password protected websites and intranet sites.

With the release of Google Desktop 2, Google has answered many of these initial questions, and ones that remained open after the release of Google Desktop Enterprise in May. However, some security analysts are still leery about the new search software.

This latest version no longer indexes password protected files and will not view files in other users’ directories, but it is one of the new feature suites that is causing some concern. This new version adds a Sidebar that searches the internet for information (email, news, weather, photos, stocks, Atom feeds) and displays them to the user based on their web browsing history.

In an in-depth article by eWeek on the subject, Nikhio Bhatla, product manager for Google Desktop is quoted as saying “we wanted to let people just sit back and let the Web come to them.” This can be quite benefical for users but does add two concerns: