On behalf of Proofpoint, Inc., Forrester Consulting fielded an online survey of email decision makers at large US, UK, German, French and Australian companies. Respondents were asked about their concerns, priorities and plans related to the content of email leaving their organizations, as well as related concerns about the risks associated with mobile devices, blogs and message boards, media sharing sites and other electronic communications technologies.

Forrester gathered a total of 424 responses from companies with 1,000 or more employees, including 301 US, 32 UK, 30 German, 31 French and 30 Australian companies. This report summarizes the findings of the 2008 study.

Key Findings, US 2008
   - 22% of US companies with 20,000 or more employees surveyed employ staff whose primary or exclusive job function is to read or otherwise monitor outbound email content.
   - More than 1 in 3 (38.0%) US companies surveyed perform regular audits of outbound email content.
   - 44% of US companies investigated a suspected email leak of confidential or proprietary information in the past 12 months. 40% investigated a suspected violation of privacy or data protection regulations in the past 12 months.

Other Key Findings, US    - More than a quarter of US companies surveyed (26%) terminated an employee for violating email policies in the past 12 months.
   - More than a third (34%) of companies surveyed with 20,000 employees reported that employee email was subpoenaed in the last 12 months.
   - In addition to concerns about the corporate mail system, more than half of US companies surveyed (56%) are “very concerned” or “concerned” about web-based email as a conduit for exposure of confidential or proprietary information.
   - Top concerns 2008: 75% of US companies are “concerned” or “very concerned” about protecting the confidentiality of personal identity and financial information in outbound email.
   - More than half of US companies surveyed (57%) say that it is “important” or “very important” to reduce the legal and financial risks associated with outbound email in the next 12 months.
   - More than half of US companies surveyed (51%) say that it is “important” or “very important” to reduce the legal and financial risks associated with outbound HTTP traffic (such as webmail and blog postings) in the next 12 months.

Key Findings, Europe 2008
   - 35% of European companies with 20,000 or more employees surveyed employ staff to read or otherwise analyze outbound email.
   - 11% of European companies with 20,000 or more employees surveyed employ staff whose primary or exclusive job function is to read or otherwise monitor outbound email content. Overall, 5% of European companies surveyed (13% UK, 3% DE, 0% FR) said they employ such staff.
   - 30% of European companies surveyed (53% UK, 17% DE, 19% FR) perform regular audits of outbound email content.
   - 30% of European companies (47% UK, 30% DE, 13% FR) investigated a suspected email leak of confidential or proprietary information in the past 12 months.
   - More than a fifth (22%) of European companies surveyed (44% UK, 7% DE, 13% FR) terminated an employee for violating email policies in the past 12 months.
   - 11% of companies surveyed with 20,000 employees reported that employee email was subpoenaed in the last 12 months.
   - In addition to concerns about the corporate mail system, nearly half (48%) of European companies (41% UK, 53% DE, 52% FR) are “very concerned” or “concerned” about web-based email as a conduit for exposure of confidential or proprietary information.
   - Top European outbound email concerns 2008: 63% of European companies (66% UK, 57% DE, 68% FR) are “concerned” or “very concerned” about ensuring that email cannot be used to disseminate company trade secrets or valuable intellectual prop¬erty.
   - Nearly half (49%) of European companies surveyed (50% UK, 60% DE, 39% FR) say that it is “important” or “very impor¬tant” to reduce the legal and financial risks associated with outbound email in the next 12 months.
   - 45% of European companies surveyed (34% UK, 57% DE, 45% FR) say that it is “important” or “very important” to reduce the legal and financial risks associated with outbound HTTP traffic (such as webmail and blog postings) in the next 12 months.