In a survey of over 400 IT and HR professionals, SurfControl found that 91% of those interviewed regularly send and receive corporate or customer confidential information by e-mail. Thirty-nine percent received confidential information via e-mail that was not intended for them, 26% of which came from an external source.
Fifteen percent of respondents admitted to sending out confidential information by mistake to the wrong person or organisation, with 17% of them unable to retrieve the data.
According to Martino Corbelli, Director of Marketing for SurfControl:
"The percentage of people who send and receive confidential information in error is higher than we could have anticipated but underlines the widespread use of e-mail as a communication tool for many business applications. Unfortunately, some of those applications include sensitive information which would greatly benefit from having additional protection methods to ensure leakage never occurs, the effects of which can be devastating."
According to Corbelli, Derek Wyatt MP, chairman of the All Party Internet Group (APIG) is keen to make directors more accountable for such security breaches. APIG is a discussion forum for new media industries and parliamentarians.
Corbelli advises:
"UK business bosses should take this issue with grave concern. It is advised that they do all in their power to ensure appropriate steps are taken to minimise any legal exposure in addition to the damage that can be done to the organisation at large."
