Email Could Get You Fired

Security is the premiere task in storage networking these days, and email is right in the middle of it. Storage pros who skimp on protecting and organizing email in a way that lets them get at specific messages quickly may be endangering their future, as well as the future of the organizations that employ them.

"More attorneys are looking for who knew what when," said Michael McCreary, senior director of the legal business technology division at Pfizer, during a presentation here yesterday. "Plaintiffs' attorneys would rather litigate your business process than the merits of the case... If attorneys can discredit your business process, then they can discredit your organization in the courts."

Email has been the smoking gun in high-profile litigation involving Intel and Morgan Stanley. And the urgency of getting control over what's in corporate Exchange archives is only likely to increase.

Results of a study released today by the Radicati Group say the installed base of corporate email will grow from 393 million seats in 2007 to 569 million seats in 2011 a 45 percent increase. Instant messaging is on the rise, too, and will grow nearly 90 percent in the same timeframe, from 67 million seats in 2007 to 127 million in 2011.

This week in Dallas, the Storage Networking World trade show has been the focal point for numerous security product and service announcements. Presenters have held forth about the need for improved security strategies.Behind the warnings, the rhythm of email risk pounds a relentless backbeat.

Email protection isn't just about storing potential evidence. It's also important to get control of what's moving on and off the corporate network. This was the impetus behind EMC unit RSA's purchase of Tablus in August. And sister CMP publication InformationWeek reports this week the rumored purchase by Symantec of Vontu, a firm Byte and Switch has tracked. (See Stop That Email! and Content Filtering Options Proliferate.)

Clearly, email security has been an ongoing trend for months. And the latest rumblings are likely to be followed by many more announcements of products, plans, services – and, sadly, snafus.

Here's hoping your company won't be one of those.Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Byte and Switch's editors directly, send us a message.