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.

Please use the 'E-Mail' button immediately under the article title to send this item to a friend.

Press here to comment on this story >>

Today in Life: Fashion From the Dark Side >>

TODAY

• Top Firms Finally Hit By H1N1 Threat
• 'It's Not As If They Paid Great Bonuses In The First Place!'
• Top Firm Caught Out By Rogue Traders

THIS WEEK

• Bank Of America CEO Poll - Incredible Result
• Speculation Mounts About Goldman's Bonus Plans
• Bankers Will Have The Last Laugh On Pay