OXFORD, England, December 3 /PRNewswire/ --     2008 has been a year of high profile and embarrassing email data loss
blunders from Government ministers, utilities companies and even the Student
Union. Just last month, Alistair Campbell found himself at the centre of a
row after an obscene email outburst aimed at BBC journalists1. According to
Proofpoint, an email security specialist, email is already the primary outlet
of data leakage and we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
Identification of data leakage, either deliberate or unintentional, will
continue to grow. A recent Forrester Research study2 revealed that 66 per
cent of UK companies are "concerned" or "very concerned" about ensuring that
email cannot be used to disseminate company trade secrets or valuable
intellectual property. And 63 per cent of UK companies are "concerned" or
"very concerned" about protecting the confidentiality of personal identity
and financial information in outbound email. To help companies protect both
themselves and their staff from data loss mishaps, Proofpoint has come up
with following "Safer Email" top tips for businesses and employees:

Email tips for businesses

1. Select your filtering solution wisely. Insist on a gateway-based
solution that's easy to use, highly accurate, quick to deploy and scalable.

2. Act fast to minimise loss. Implement effective processes will help
identify, track and resolve any rogue emails through a variety of options
including quarantine, deletion, and re-routing back to the original sender
for clarification.

3. Focus on your data. Know the value as there are clear
differences between a customer's private information (National Insurance
numbers; bank account numbers etc) and company sensitive content (financial
accounts; sensitive memos and press releases; blueprints etc)

4. Encrypt. Businesses should ensure that they have an enforcement 
mechanism in place to prevent sensitive information falling into the wrong 
hands.

5. Review & Audit. Continually review the information leaving your 
organisation and make sure it adheres to your outbound security policies. 
Educate users and continually assessing effectiveness of the policies, 
updating where necessary.

Email tips for employees

1. Expect to be unlucky! Don't rely on luck, take care to follow the
company guidelines and do your best to be practical. If you are not sure
about the value of information - ask. It is always better safe than sorry.

2. Manage your email accounts. A good rule of thumb for the average email
user is to keep a minimum of three email accounts. Your work account should
be used exclusively for work-related conversations. Your second email account
should be used for personal conversations and contacts, and your third email
account should be used as a general catch-all for less secure interactions
e.g. signing up for newsletters, entering online competitions etc.

3. Avoid fraudulent email. Never respond to an email stating that 
you've won the lottery. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

4. Insure your financial information via email. Banks and online stores 
provide, almost without exception, a secured section on their website where 
you can input your personal and financial information. They do this 
precisely because email, no matter how well protected, is more easily hacked 
than well secured sites. Using your credit card wisely insures you against 
theft and fraud.

5. Look at your policy. There's an old saying that it's better to seek
forgiveness than permission. Not in the case of your employer's sensitive
information. If in doubt, don't send it. Make sure you are up to date on your
employer's email policy, especially when it comes to sensitive or
confidential documents.

About Proofpoint

Proofpoint secures and improves enterprize email infrastructure with
solutions for email archiving, encryption and data loss prevention.
Proofpoint solutions defend against spam and viruses, prevent leaks of
confidential and private information, encrypt sensitive emails and archive
messages for retention, e-discovery and easier mailbox management. Proofpoint
solutions can be deployed on-premises (appliance); on-demand (SaaS) or in a
hybrid architecture for maximum flexibility and scalability. For more
information, visit http://www.proofpoint.com

1. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-16446130-details/Labour+
email+blunder/article.do

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)

2. Forrester Consulting fielded an online survey of email decision makers
from companies with 1,000 + employees including 301 US, 32 UK, 30 German, 31
French and 30 Australian companies. The full report is available at:
http://www.proofpoint.com/outbound

Lesley Booth
    lesley.booth@sixdegreespr.com
    Six Degrees Limited
    Tel: +44(0)1628-480280
    Mob: +44(0)7793-753995
    Skype name: LesleyBooth

    http://www.sixdegreespr.com