Errant e-mailers

Almost half of UK companies (44%) have sacked employees for e-mail abuse in the last year, a recent survey for e-mail security firm Proofpoint found. More than 75% of firms meanwhile, have disciplined workers for not complying with company rules on email. The research found that 53% of the UK companies surveyed, regularly audited outbound e-mail content, while 47% have investigated a leak in the last year. The figures show UK companies are more likely to check employees’ email use than German or French firms. The survey found that confidential or sensitive information is being leaked in a variety of ways including via social networking sites (16%) or through video or audio files posted on a media sharing site (9%).