Employee Misuse of Networking a Concern

In its sixth annual study of outbound e-mail and data-loss-prevention issues, Proofpoint, Inc., found that U.S. companies are increasingly concerned about a growing number of data leaks caused by employee misuse of e-mail, blogs, social networks, multimedia channels and even text messages.

According to the June 2009 study of 220 e-mail decision-makers at U.S. companies with more than 1000 employees, organizations continue to embrace preventive measures — some more drastic than others.

For example, as more U.S. companies reported their business was impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information (34 percent, up from 23 percent in 2008), an increasing number say they employ staff to read or otherwise analyze the contents of outbound e-mail (38 percent, up from 29 percent in 2008). The pain of data leakage has become so acute in 2009 that more companies report they employ staff whose primary or exclusive job is to monitor the content of outbound e-mail (33 percent, up from 15 percent in 2008).