Sendmail and Aberdeen Group Report Shows Eighty Percent of Companies Concerned about Loss of Confidential Data by Insiders

WebKnowHow
Monday, November 13, 2006; 08:55 AM

Sendmail, a leading global provider of trusted messaging, today announced the sponsorship of Aberdeen Group’s latest Information Security report, titled “The 2006 Messaging Security Benchmark Report: Strategies for Securing Corporate Communications.” The report, focused on messaging security trends in today’s IT market, found that while 80% of companies are aware of the threat of loss of confidential data by insiders, only 43% have implemented messaging security solutions that will stop that outbound threat. From a risk perspective, 91% of companies consider virus and malware to be a medium or high threat, and 86% consider spam to be a medium or high threat. Interestingly, 72% consider the external interception of confidential data to be a medium or high threat though only 25% have implemented messaging encryption solutions to mitigate the threat.

“Email has proven to be the communication vehicle for over 80% of every organization’s compliance, privacy and corporate governance violations and these violations are increasing every year,” said Donald J. Massaro, CEO of Sendmail. “Enterprises need to evaluate whether they have the adequate policy-driven security and messaging solutions in place to enforce compliance with corporate and regulatory requirements.”

Key findings in the report indicate that corporations can take several steps to review their messaging security plans and ensure their processes and technologies address traditional inbound threats and outbound data leak risks in an effort to protect against the transmission of sensitive data. The process of updating corporate security policies include:

• Create clear security related policies and practices and ensure they are communicated to and understood by all staff, not just IT
• Assemble cross functional teams, including but not limited to IT, finance, and human resources, to calculate the impact and cost of a security or compliance failure

“Messaging security solutions can have a beneficial impact on day-to-day operations while improving an organization’s security posture,” said Mounil Patel, research director for Aberdeen Group’s Information Technology practice. “For those companies that have implemented clear security-related policies and practices and have an end-to-end solution for both outbound and inbound messages, the report found that 15% of respondents were able to reduce security staffing requirements, 15% reduced messaging operations staffing, and 12% reduced messaging services related capital requirements by implementing automated security solutions.”

In addition to outlining steps to implement best practices and policies, the report also identifies the top risks that are driving the adoption of secure end-to-end messaging solutions. While spam, viruses and malware continue to be the most important, the loss and leaking of confidential information is an increasing concern.

“With 25 years of innovation, product development and messaging expertise, Sendmail offers large enterprises the capability to enforce compliance and prevent both inbound and outbound threats,” Massaro said. “Brand and reputation are reliant on trust and it is Sendmail’s mission to restore the trust in Internet communications used daily by billions of people worldwide.”

To download a complimentary copy of the report, follow this link: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410405&cid=3391.