Why Email Is Risky

The very issues which make Email the great business communications tool it is, also opens the company to substantial risk. Email is ubiquitous and by it s nature allows access to internal IT infrastructure. The threats from malicious payloads, unwanted mail and DOS or DDOS attacks are real. They can cause significant increases in capital to protect internal systems, significant hidden costs in lost productivity and require ongoing intelligence and skill to manage the ever-evolving threats.

The Firstwave Technology Email Support System is designed to remove these pressures. It removes management and cost but not control. It is designed to stay 2 steps ahead of the threats.

Email is the backbone of Enterprise communications. It is ubiquitous, accessible and immediate. It provides a continuous record of business to business communications. The growth in Enterprise Email, both in number and by data volume, bears testament to its pivotal position in the Enterprise communications hierarchy – and yet ask yourself - does the Risk and Compliance Manager know what is flowing in and out of the organisation via Email? Does the IT team fully understand what information is passing into the Email store and the impact on corporate resources of unwanted email flows (not spam)?

What we do know is:

  • Email Flow is growing very rapidly (up to 50% per annum on some estimates)
  • Email Systems are typically used as personal archive stores.
  • Information contained in Emails is stored, retrieved, modified and resent many times
  • Email flow is often uncontrolled and insecure.
  • Industry estimates place Company IP, stored in the email systems, as high as 60%.
  • Directors have a significant and increasing responsibility for compliance and IP protection.
  • Up to 10% of employees admit “stealing” data in blind surveys
  • Over 75% of legal discovery requests relate to emails
  • Viral marketing and social networks, such as Facebook and Myspace, are contributing significantly to Email loads  and Email Storage volumes are increasing significantly
  • The Email management system is a critical business tool – the challenge is to manage the information flow for business productivity rather than drown in the volume.