Very possibly! A survey conducted by Forrester Research for security firm ProofPoint has found that in the UK and US 38% of companies employee staff with the sole remit to read or analyse outgoing email.

At larger companies, those with over 20,000 employees, the figures rise, with 44% of large US companies and 40% of large UK companies employing email snoopers.

The general feeling that it's US companies which are cracking down on information leaks or privacy policy violations doesn't appear to be born out in this survey. In the US, 33% of companies investigated leaks of corporate information in the last year while 36% investigated privacy lapses. This culminated in 52% disciplining employees and some 32% resorting to termination. In the UK, a whopping 70% of surveyed companies have disciplined an employee for email policy breaches with leak investigations standing at 50%, privacy violation investigations at 40% and termination at 34%.

The twitching doesn't stop there. Half of companies on both sides of the pond are becoming increasingly worried about the use of internet based email in the dissemination of corporate secrets or sensitive information. In the UK, 34% of companies report being damaged by such leaks in the past year.

Blogs also come high up the list of concerns with company rules frequently being flouted by employees, either mistakenly or by posing as an anonymous person. 7% of US companies have reported firing an employee for doing such.

Press here to comment on this story >>

Today in Life: Coldplay is Living La Vida (Loca) >>

TODAY

• Goldman Didn't Make Me A Partner & My Career Was Over
• Being Made Redundant ? We Have Firms Who Might Want To Hire You
• I Didn't Make Goldman Partner - Your Comments

THIS WEEK

• Goldman Didn't Make Me A Partner & My Career Was Over
• Top Firm Awards Mid-Year Bonus Advances In Move To Retain Key Staff
• Firms Now Focus On Axing European Staff