11% Of U.S. Companies Disciplined Employees for Improper Use of Blogs/Message Boards; 13% for Social Network Violations; 14% for Improper Use of Media Sharing Sites SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 20
SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- In its fifth-annual study of
outbound email and data loss prevention issues
(http://www.proofpoint.com/outbound), Proofpoint, Inc. found that large
enterprises continue to incur risk from -- and take action against --
information leaks over outbound email, as well as newer communications media
such as blogs, message boards, media sharing sites and mobile devices.
Outbound email remains a key source of risk for U.S. enterprises with a
record 44% of surveyed companies reporting that they investigated an email
leak of confidential information in the past 12 months. 41% of the largest
companies surveyed (those with 20,000 or more employees) reported that they
employ staff to read or otherwise analyze the contents of outbound email. 22%
of these companies said they employ staff primarily or exclusively for this
purpose. Other key findings in the survey include:
-- 40% of companies surveyed investigated an email-based violation of
privacy or data protection regulations in the past 12 months.
-- 26% of companies surveyed terminated an employee for violating email
policies in the last 12 months.
-- 23% of U.S. companies surveyed said their business was impacted by the
exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information in the last
12 months.
-- 34% of the largest companies (20,000 employees or more) reported that
employee email was subpoenaed in the last 12 months.
Email is not the only source of risk for information leakage, however.
Respondents to the survey indicated significant risk resulting from employee
use of blogs, message boards and media sharing sites (such as YouTube), as
well as mobile devices. Some of the key findings include:
-- 27% of companies surveyed had investigated the exposure of
confidential, sensitive or private information from lost or stolen
mobile devices in the past 12 months.
-- 11% of U.S. companies surveyed disciplined employees for improper use
of blogs/message boards in the past 12 months.
-- 13% of surveyed companies disciplined employees for social network
violations and 14% for improper use of media sharing sites in the past
12 months.
-- 14% of publicly traded companies surveyed had investigated the
exposure of material financial information (such as unannounced
financial results) on blogs or message board postings in the last
12 months.
To download a free copy of Proofpoint's complete report, Outbound Email
and Data Loss Prevention in Today's Enterprise, 2008, visit:
http://www.proofpoint.com/outbound/. Proofpoint's 2008 survey asked 301 email
decision makers at U.S. companies with more than 1000 employees about a wide
variety of data loss concerns and the actions they take to mitigate risks of
data loss. Proofpoint's 2008 survey also included 123 European and Australian
enterprises to assess global concerns about outbound email and related risks.
About Proofpoint, Inc.
Proofpoint provides unified email security and data loss prevention
solutions for enterprises, universities, government organizations and ISPs to
defend against inbound threats such as spam and viruses, prevent leaks of
confidential and private information across all protocols, and encrypt
sensitive emails. Proofpoint's products are controlled by a single management
and policy console and are powered by Proofpoint MLX(TM) technology, an
advanced machine learning system developed by Proofpoint scientists and
engineers. Proofpoint provides the most scalable and flexible deployment model
including: hardware appliance, virtual appliance, hosted services and
software. For more information, please visit http://www.proofpoint.com.
SOURCE Proofpoint, Inc.
