UK businesses urged to crack down on personal e-mail use

UK businesses could risk falling short of requirements set out under the 1998 Data Protection Act if they continue to allow employees to use corporate e-mail for personal correspondence, according to the organisers of a recent survey.

The study, which was commissioned by forensic e-mail management archiving and compliance company Cryoserver, found that more than 90 per cent of respondents use their work e-mail to organise their social lives and send jokes. More than three quarters of the users that took part use their accounts to organise holidays and almost two thirds discuss their personal relationships.

As well the issue of lower productivity caused by excessive use of e-mail, organisations could also face data protection issues – under the terms of the Data Protection Act, they are required to protect any personal data held on their systems. From a legal point of view, e-mail back-up tapes that are commonly used by businesses do not meet these requirements and should be used only for disaster recovery purposes, not formal investigations. This, says Cryoserver could be a major issue for those companies that continue to allow personal communication to take place over their systems.

“It is clear from this survey that a large number of companies are breaking regulations set under the Data Protection Act as well as suffering from lower productivity brought about by excessive use of personal e-mail at work,” said Paul Grossman, CEO of Cryoserver. He went on to urge companies to tighten their e-mail policies and recommended that, if a total ban on personal e-mail was unrealistic, they should consider installing a forensic audit and compliance system to monitor e-mail usage.

The survey, which took place online, canvassed the opinions of more than 100 corporate e-mail users in numerous business areas.