30th June 2008: Following a rise in the levels of risk it discovers when scanning enterprise email systems for inappropriate images, specialist risk-mitigation software vendor has released ImageGuard™ MailAssessor, a free downloadable tool which allows companies to rapidly check for potential image risk in their email systems. It's widely recognised that outbound e-mailing of inappropriate content damages company reputations and brand equity, while internal distribution can undermine employee welfare and productivity.



ImageGuard MailAssessor is designed specifically for enterprise email systems and can scan email accounts unobtrusively without the need to install any software on the email server. The software works with Microsoft Exchange®, Lotus Notes® and Novell Groupwise® and will scan embedded images, compressed files and email attachments held on email servers.

“ImageGuard MailAssessor employs two techniques to identify inappropriate image material” said Andy Churley, Marketing Director. “Firstly the software seeks a match between suspect images found and its own blacklist of known inappropriate images; in addition it uses advanced image algorithms to identify suspect images, which have a high likelihood of being inappropriate”.

The software reports on both known and suspect images and will identify email domains to which inappropriate images have been sent using a corporate email account. Known images are reported by severity and description.

During the past year, the company saw a rise in the volumes of Inappropriate Images both stored & circulated within the enterprise and beyond it to external parties. Pornographic or inappropriate material was found on 29% of PCs in 2007, up from 25% in 2006 and in 14% of e-mail accounts, up from 12% in 2006.

“What's interesting is that this issue persists, regardless of the significant investments made in content filtering and gateway controls in recent years”, says Churley, adding “it just reinforces the need to know what is actually on your network, by conducting regular risk audits”

Unsecured sensitive data discovered on 36% of Enterprise computers.

Rise in the levels of pornography found on workplace PCs.

22 April 2008: Specialist risk-mitigation software vendor has seen a rise in the levels of risk it discovers when scanning computer networks in the enterprise & public sector for unsecured sensitive data and inappropriate images.

“We had expected to find an improved compliance culture, given the reputational & financial damage organisations face from any incident of data leakage or pornography in the workplace” said CEO Colm Doherty, “but the human factor remains as an issue”

The company's software was used to scan PCs, fileshares and e-mail accounts in more than 150 organisations. Despite a rise in regulatory compliance imperatives and investments made in network gateway controls, the company discovered disturbing levels of personal & sensitive data, leaving organisations open to potential ID fraud and intellectual property theft.

“The company found suspected sensitive data on 46% of PCs, in 32% of e-mail accounts and 30% of server shares” says Andy Churley, Chief Marketing Officer, adding “We were concerned at the volume and nature of the material we found, including full credit card details, National Insurance & pension details and network logins & passwords. In most of the organisations scanned, we found more than enough material to perpetrate ID fraud and the constitute a significant loss of critical data such as financial information and intellectual property”

During the past year, the company also saw a rise in the volumes of Inappropriate Images both stored & circulated within the enterprise and beyond it to external parties. Pornographic or inappropriate material was found on 28.5% of PCs in 2007, up from 25% in 2006 and in 14.4% of e-mail accounts, up from 12.4% in 2006.

“What's interesting is that this issue persists, regardless of the significant investments made in content filtering and gateway controls in recent years”, says Churley, adding “it just reinforces the need to know what is actually on your network, by conducting regular risk audits”