GLOBAL provider of email and Web security Marshal8e6 has warned that businesses are being exposed to security risks by the increasing number of employees accessing personal emails and social networking sites while at work.
With Australia now in the middle of National Consumer Fraud Week, the company reminds businesses that they are being increasingly exposed to these risks by their employees’ Internet exploits. The security company says it is critical that businesses understand the consequences and mitigate the impact that fraudulent emails and websites can have on their operations.
Marshal8e6’s vice president for Asia Pacific Jeremy Hulse said that last year, global spam emails exceeded 150 billion messages per day and as much as 33% of the emails included links to sites hosting malicious code.
He said this represents a very serious threat to confidential information, compliance and network availability; three components that are essential to corporate reputation and effective business operation.
Hulse warns that consumers are increasingly bringing their personal methods of communicating, such as Facebook, instant messenger or Hotmail, into the workplace with or without permission and that as the line continued to blur between personal and professional networking, it was important for organisations to consider social networking and personal email sites in their broader security strategy.
He mentioned simple steps that organisations can follow to ensure employees can continue to build their professional relationships without increasing security risks to the organisation, such as adopting a policy-driven approach to security, matching security requirements with policy, staying on top of employee operating environments, being wary of free Web services, and updating content filtering solutions to keep spam out.