Should you check outgoing e-mail?

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MICHAEL OSTERMAN ON MESSAGING
07/05/05
Today's focus: Should you check outgoing e-mail?

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Some good reasons to check e-mail leaving your organization
* Links related to Messaging
* Featured reader resource
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This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107704
_______________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT DATA-THEFTS?

For years, hackers have obtained confidential information by
manipulating legitimate users into revealing it. It's critical
that companies convey to their employees - local and remote -
why security measures are important. If you're curious to see
how your company's security efforts stack up, click here for
more:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107662
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: Should you check outgoing e-mail?

By Michael Osterman

Inbound message content scanning to eliminate spam and malware
is virtually universal. However, outbound content scanning is
becoming a hot issue for organizations.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has long required
investment houses to sample e-mail and instant messages sent by
their broker-dealers after the fact to make sure that these
communications don't contain false claims or misleading
statements, there is a growing move for all types of
organizations to monitor e-mail messages and instant messages
before they are sent.

The motivation is simply to prevent unacceptable communications
- such as profanity, credit card numbers, sensitive information
and the like - from leaving an organization and thereby creating
liabilities. A failure to monitor communications can have some
serious consequences:

* Last week, a New York state assemblyman sent e-mail to about
  300 people in which he referred to some of his constituents as
  idiots.

* In June, a secretary spilled ketchup onto the pants of a
  lawyer at a large law firm in London. He asked her, via e-mail,
  to compensate him for the approximately $7 dry cleaning bill and
  followed this up with a note on her desk when she did not reply
  quickly enough. She replied to the lawyer - and 250 other people
  - that her mother's sudden illness and death had slowed her
  response to his demand. The lawyer has resigned from the firm.

* A woman intended to send an e-mail message to her sister
  commenting that her participation in a weight loss program had
  made her "fat butt" smaller. However, she mistakenly sent the
  e-mail to a distribution list for her homeowners association,
  not her sister.

In short, it's important for users to be educated on corporate
policies about appropriate use of e-mail and for these users to
police themselves and try not to send out embarrassing or
sensitive information. A failure to be careful can lead to a
loss of reputation or a job, or it can lead to heavy fines.
However, users sometimes make mistakes and send out information
they shouldn't - or they hold to the mistaken notion that if
they delete an e-mail message, it's gone. Any organization
concerned about its credibility, reputation and future should
make sure that its outgoing e-mail is as clean as the e-mail
stream that reaches its users.
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Michael Osterman

Michael D. Osterman is the principal of Osterman Research
<http://www.ostermanresearch.com/>, a market research firm that
helps organizations understand the markets for messaging,
directory and related products and services. He can be reached
by clicking here <mailto:michael@ostermanresearch.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107703
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Messaging newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/gwm/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
FOCUS ON RECOVERY

IT professionals are changing the way they back up and recover
data, experts say, with new emphasis on the speedier fetching of
data made possible by advancing technologies. At a recent
storage conference in Orlando, disk-based backup solutions were
touted - find out if attendees agreed and if faster storage
solutions will soon be available. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/062005-data-recovery.html>
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