Ask Elon Musk: a simple email mistake can have monumental consequences. Starboard, a prominent activist investment firm, has found itself in hot water due to what the Financial Times called a "fat-fingered gaffe." This incident not only undercut Starboard's $1 billion campaign against Pfizer but also serves as an example of why proactive email security and granular access controls are essential for any organization or individual sharing sensitive information.
It is no big leap to say that Starboard probably wishes they had a partner like Virtru to prevent this blunder.
The Gaffe That Shook Wall Street
Starboard's collaboration with a former Pfizer executive to pressure the pharma giant into cutting costs went awry when the ex-executive accidentally copied Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla and board members on an email chain with a Starboard representative. This simple mistake exposed Starboard's strategy prematurely, compromised the position of former Pfizer executives involved, and derailed a billion-dollar activist campaign.
The consequences were swift and severe.
Pfizer allegedly threatened to claw back stock from former executives involved in the campaign.
The implicated former executives withdrew from the activist effort and Starboard's campaign lost momentum and credibility.
How Virtru Could Have Saved the Day
Virtru's email protection solutions are designed to prevent this type of mishap. They give organizations like Starboard proactive access controls to play both defense and offense—defending data within their perimeter, while actively protecting information that leaves it through emails, files, and SaaS apps. Here's how:
- Revocation of Access: With Virtru, the sender could have immediately revoked access to the email upon realizing the mistake, preventing Pfizer's leadership from viewing its contents.
- Expiration Settings: The email could have been set to expire after a short period, limiting the window of potential damage.
- Recipient verification: Virtru's recipient verification feature could have alerted the sender to the presence of unexpected email addresses before sending.
- Military-grade Encryption from start to finish: End-to-end encryption would have ensured that even if the email reached unintended recipients, its contents would remain unreadable without proper authorization.
Fat Fingers Be Damned!
This incident highlights a critical vulnerability in corporate communications, especially in sensitive situations like activist campaigns. It's not just about preventing embarrassment; it's about protecting strategy, maintaining confidentiality, and safeguarding relationships.
Virtru offers more than just email security and TLS style encryption. Because our data-centric security products are built on the open TDF standard—we do something unique which is not possible with TLS encryption. We give customers the ability to control sensitive information even after it’s been shared with others. In other words, we protect sensitive data that is intentionally shared with partners and we enable revocation of sensitive data that is sometimes unintentionally shared with non-partners. Fat fingers be damned!
The Starboard-Pfizer email gaffe, along with Elon Musk’s investor note debacle, all serve as cautionary tales for corporations, investors, and anyone dealing with sensitive information. It underscores the need for sophisticated email protection and granular policy controls applied to sensitive data. In an era where information is power, controlling who can access your communications—and for how long—can make all the difference between success and a very public, very costly mistake.
It's not just about crafting the right message—it's about ensuring it reaches only the right eyes—and making sure you can quickly and easily take it back (in case your fingers are fat!)
