Accidental Data Leakage Still a Concern

By Greg McNevin

November 19, 2007: According to new survey from security specialist Sophos, 70 percent of businesses are concerned about data leakage vi email, and with 50 percent of employees admitting to sending email to the wrong person this concern is certainly not misplaced.

In an online survey that attracted 300 respondents in October and 200 in November, Sophos found that 50 percent of computer users have accidentally sent a sensitive email to the wrong person, while a further 50 percent of employees admit to having accidentally sent an embarrassing or sensitive email to the wrong person from the workplace.

The firm claims this demonstrates that email leakage is a very real concern, and one that highlights the corporate embarrassment, compliance breaches and the loss of business critical information can sometimes be just a mistyped email address away.

“As more and more business, and indeed personal interaction, is conducted via work email, the risk of slipping up and clicking send without double-checking the recipient's details is ever-growing,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. “The fact that as many as half of employees have experienced that heart-stopping moment when they realise that their message is hurtling towards the wrong person shows that the human error factor is too significant to ignore.

“Businesses would be wise to check that their email security solutions have the facility to prevent this from happening by identifying when sensitive data or attachments are contained in the message, and if they don't, to consider a more water-tight alternative.”

As the exposure of sensitive information can have financial impacts as well as that of reputation, Sophos recommends that companies combat this risk by installing an email security solution that enables them to scan messages for sensitive data and keywords, and one that also uses encryption to ensure that business critical emails are sent securely.

Sophos adds that an effective appliance will also identify and block confidential attachments, ensuring that accidental email loss and intentional data leakage is thwarted.

"The vast majority of data leakages via email are purely accidental, so companies that put a solid solution and security policy in place, and those that educate employees on responsible email use, will mitigate the risks and dramatically reduce the possibility of critical data loss," added Cluley.

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