Online document management sites seem like an attractive option, but how secure are they?

Dan Lohrmann, chief information security officer of Michigan, said most government security experts are reluctant to use these sites for storing essential information. The main concern is putting important data outside of the government's control.

"I think the challenge that people feel is for mission-critical information; you don't know where it is," Lohrmann said. "With no service-level agreement [SLA] or no level of control over where data is being stored, it doesn't provide the controls that you need."

He said the situation is similar to requiring employees who work remotely to use government-owned laptops instead of their home PCs. "Once it's outside our jurisdiction, we have no control over that, and the problem becomes how then do you track it, how can you confirm that there was not a breach when it's not in your control?" he said.

Still, online document storage and management has plenty of potential, he said.

"I think there are a lot of benefits," Lohrmann said. "With SLAs and with agreements and special contracts with the likes of Google Apps or whatever, I see that as an emerging trend. But the challenge is going to be the sensitive and mission-critical documents."