Is Your Company Spying On You Right Now?
File this under "Confirmation of scary news that you already suspected was true": a new survey says that corporations have become so paranoid about leaks (justifiably) that many are now engaged in "systematic snooping" in employees' electronic communications. More than 40% of large companies read employee emails, but that's not all; they're also looking at your instant messages and Facebook pages. Delete! Delete!
Businesses are also increasingly concerned about the risks posed by blogging, social networking sites, and instant messaging. Approximately 21 percent of the companies surveyed have investigated leaks that occurred through blogs and message boards, and 12 percent investigated leaks that occurred through social networking sites. Other emerging leak vectors include peer-to-peer file-sharing services and multimedia sharing sites like YouTube.
Corporate leakers: remember that everything you do on your work computer is subject to spying. But none of this should be construed as discouragement from leaking to us. Use your personal email account, or your home computer, or even your phone! There is no "NEUWS" without "U."
