New Hires to Monitor Outbound E-Mail

The economy has employers extra jittery about company secrets getting out, so nervous that they're hiring staff just to monitor outbound e-mails.

That's the conclusion of a recent study by Proofpoint, an Internet security and data loss prevention company, which found that 38 percent of large U.S. employers are monitoring outbound e-mail to prevent data leaks, up from 29 percent in 2008.

And it's not just inappropriate use of e-mail that has employers scrutinizing employees. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are also compounding data leak fears, companies reported, with 8 percent saying they had fired an employee for misuse of social networks in the past 12 months. Another 17 percent had disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies, up from 11 percent the year before.

No surprise, say some employment attorneys, noting the ease with which employees can swipe confidential information or taint a company's image has Corporate America on edge. "It's almost impossible to keep up with what might be walking out of the door or sliding out the door," said Anthony Oncidi, chairman of the labor and employment department in the Los Angeles office of New York-based Proskauer Rose.

Oncidi said that employers are smart to have an ongoing monitoring program that includes reading or analyzing e-mails. That makes it much easier to spot suspicious behavior, he said. Plus, if trade secrets are stolen, the monitoring records will give the lawyers the evidence they need to bring a lawsuit. The Proofpoint study was based on the responses of 220 e-mail decision-makers at U.S. companies with more than 1,000 workers. It was conducted via the Internet in June.

Among the study's other findings:

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Source: law.com
By: Tresa Baldas