A staggering 94% of companies admit that they are powerless to prevent confidential data from leaving their company by e-mail, according to a new study from Mimecast.

It found that only 6% of respondents were confident that anyone attempting to send confidential information by e-mail out of the organization, would be prevented from doing so. The study also showed that 32% of companies would not even be aware that confidential information had been leaked, and therefore would be unable to take steps to minimize the damage or track down the source of the information.

However 62% said they would be able to retrospectively identify the e-mail leak once the information had been sent, but they did confess to being unable to prevent its disclosure.

"The figures show that organizations haven't nailed down the e-mail channel," said Tim Pickard, marketing director at Mimecast. "E-mail protection is catching on as a technology that manages information, as the industry moves away from protect-and-defense, to becoming more aware how information flows around the organization."