Employers Reading Outbound E-Mail on Massive Scale?
A recent study of outbound e-mail finds that employers are widely taking the initiative to prevent information leaks in large part by employing staff to screen e-mail generated on company time and on company equipment. And more than a quarter of the companies surveyed said they had fired someone for violating e-mail policies in the past 12 months.
In its 5th annual study, the data loss prevention company Proofpoint found that 44 percent of large U.S. companies reported that they investigated an e-mail leak of confidential information at least once during the past year. The companies also responded that employee use of blogs, mobile devices, message boards and social media sites such as YouTube is causing them to investigate those areas as well.
Of companies surveyed that had more than 20,000 employees, 41 percent said they employed a staff to read or analyze the contents of outbound e-mail, according to a release from the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.
Here’s what else Proofpoint found:
• 23 percent of U.S. companies surveyed said that they suffered a business impact because of the release of sensitive or embarrassing information.
• 34 percent of the largest companies surveyed reported that employee e-mail was subpoenaed in the last 12 months.
Proofpoint says its 2008 report on Outbound Email and Data Loss Prevention in Today’s Enterprise involved a survey of 301 e-mail decision makers at U.S. companies with more than 1,000 employees.
