Employee misuse of e-mail, blogs, message boards and media-sharing Web sites
posed a significant security risk for publicly traded U.S. companies last year,
with 31.8 percent investigating a suspected violation of privacy or data
protection regulations, according to a new survey.
A report on outbound e-mail and content security conducted by Forrester
Consulting and Proofpoint, a messaging and data security firm, found that 26
percent of the companies surveyed saw their businesses affected by the exposure
of sensitive or embarrassing information.
Experts familiar with data security say corporations risk the loss of company
trade secrets and also leave themselves open to a variety of defamation- or
slander-related lawsuits when blogs and message boards are used
inappropriately.
Proper use of e-mail continues to be a major problem at many firms, as one in
three companies surveyed said they investigated a suspected leak of confidential
or proprietary information last year. Furthermore, companies on average
estimated that almost 19 percent of all outgoing e-mail contained content that
poses a legal, financial or regulatory risk. Showing the seriousness of these
matters, 27.6 percent of the companies surveyed reported terminating an employee
for violating e-mail policies.
The survey also found that blogs and message boards have become a growing
source of risk for companies. More than 19 percent of the companies disciplined
employees for violating blog or message board policies, and more than 9 percent
fired employees for such infractions.
Robert Scott, a partner at Scott & Scott, a Dallas-based IT compliance
and management firm, said the ramifications of leaks of important data on blogs
and message boards can be devastating. Scott said a company’s brand could be
irreparably damaged if trade secrets fall into the hands of competitors.
"The overall financial impact depends on what the secrets are, who’s getting
them and what they are used for," he says.
Scott also emphasized that blogs are here to stay, so companies need to
monitor them vigorously. In addition to leaking sensitive information, employees
making disparaging remarks about competitors or using blogs for sexually
explicit or offensive material can also lead to liability and lawsuits.
"It’s a matter of enforcement and compliance," Scott noted, "because the
individual employees may not be aware or may be intentionally disregarding
[policies]."
Filed by Matthew Scott of Financial Week, a sister publication of
Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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