Sexually explicit mail - an office superbug

Over a third of office computer users are sending or receiving sexually explicit or racist mail, putting their companies at risk.

A YouGov survey of over 2,000 U.K. employees showed that even though employees are aware of the dangers of certain emails, they send them regardless.

"The amount of inappropriate content making its way round UK businesses' email systems is astounding," said Jon Lee, CEO of email filtering company Clearswift. "Employees need to stop and think about the trouble they could get in if these mails got into the wrong hands."

Even though abuse is high only one in ten companies has gone as far as sacking employees for breaking their email policy. Despite the fact nearly all companies claimed to have an email policy only half of employees fully understood the guidelines. As much as ten percent had little or no idea what the policy meant.

"With 7 percent of employees sending company-confidential email to other parties, bosses may as well leave their offices unlocked at night," said Lee.

Earlier this month SC reported IT directors are putting their businesses at financial risk by not enforcing regulation linked to porn prevention in the workplace. A survey claimed that companies did not understand the severity of some punishment connected to illegal images in messages.

www.clearswift.com

Copyright © SC Magazine, US edition

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