Aussie companies need better mail protection

Aussie companies need better mail protection

Jan 31, 2005: 1,000 man hours can be saved each year by an integrated message solution provided by one vendor, according to a survey conducted across 12 countries from four continents.

The secure content management survey, conducted by McAfee, revealed that most enterprise organisations believe that they have an obligation to protect and prevent employees from being exposed to offensive content via email.

However, the survey also found that less than one third of these enterprises use a single vendor for messaging and network security, but the ones that did use just one vendor saved more time dealing with spam, viruses, phishing attacks and inappropriate content.

An integrated secure content management solution could save an organisation the workload of up to four full-time employees per year.

Over two thirds of the organisations interviewed believe that there is a significant benefit to buying an integrated SCM solution from a single vendor.

Statistics closer to home in Australia and New Zealand, revealed that there needs to be an increase in awareness of incorporating message solutions that save on manpower and protect enterprises from breaking governing regulations.

Allan Bell, the security spokesperson for McAfee ANZ, said: "The survey showed that specifically in ANZ, 49 percent of companies were aware of the responsibility to incorporate email security. 74 percent were aware that they had to adhere to government regulations.

"This shows that there is a gap in the amount of enterprises that realise the importance of email security. So this organisations need to be educated on the value of protecting employee privacy, as well as blocking out damaging emails.

"It staff are not legal people, so they need to be aware of how to meet government demands."

He also added that companies in ANZ need to realise the value of using just one vendor for their messaging solutions.

"On average, companies spend 2 days per employee, dealing with spam, viruses and inappropriate content. People usually deleted the rubbish in their mail first before getting on with the rest of their work. Organisations in ANZ need to do the best they can to save these man hours, which can be accomplished far more easily with an integrated solution."

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