In a poll of over 1,000 computer users at small to medium-sized
businesses, Sophos found that only 13% of respondents thought that
employers should not be held responsible for preventing spam
containing violent, pornographic and other offensive spam from
reaching their employees. Over half of those polled felt that
employers should take preventative action against offensive
spam.
"It is irresponsible for employers not to protect their staff
from unsolicited e-mails containing offensive, pornographic and
racist content - it's practically asking for a Human Resources
fiasco," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos.
"More than half of those polled agreed that employers need to
take action, but whether the majority of employers are actually
doing anything about spam is another matter - Sophos research shows
that only about a quarter of all SMBs have anti-spam software in
place," she added.
Besides offending and distracting personnel, unfiltered spam
also wastes valuable time and network resources.
The UK Government has taken some steps to tackle spam, and in
December last year brought into force new rules to deal with
unsolicited commercial e-mail and other privacy issues in
electronic communications.
Unfortunately, these Privacy and Electronic Communications
Regulations generally only apply to individual users, which means
that spam sent to office e-mail accounts does not breach the
Regulations, provided proper sender and contact details are given
and opt-out requests respected. (Although it is worth noting that
the collection and use of the e-mail addresses being targeted by
spam may well breach the Data Protection Act.)
"So long as there is money to be made from sending unsolicited
e-mail, spammers will continue to flog their services and wares -
whether content is unsavoury or not," said Theriault.
But there is some good news for employers: a recent report by
security firm MessageLabs suggests that the number of inappropriate
and potentially sensitive images sent as e-mail attachments via
office e-mail systems is actually decreasing, possibly as a result
of more firms using e-mail management solutions.
