We've heard the diagnosis: viruses are rampant and hackers are on the loose. Get your firewall ready, activate your spam filter and turn on those email anti-theft controls. That's right. Using Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology you can send personal information, original artwork and corporate marketing strategies via email? in total confidence.

When all security measures focus on detecting the latest phishing scams or sorting through hundreds of spam messages a day, attention can be diverted from dealing with risks associated with outbound email.

But the truth is email can be easily forwarded, copied, lost or otherwise misdirected. And because companies rely on electronic correspondences to exchange priceless pieces of information on a daily basis, campaign details, business plans and client data are susceptible to falling into the wrong hands when outgoing messages are not protected.

How harmful can unsecured email be to your business? According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 80% of asset misdirection happens when information is exploited by authorized users. The fa?ade of a trusted addressee or assumptions about the recipients? own safety measures hinder a sender's security concerns. Even though the data might be protected on your machine, your addressee's computer may not be well equipped to house critical documents.

As the creator of the email, you can take charge by safeguarding vital information. The 2006 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey found that 68% of businesses use encryption for data in transit, which provides protection from snooping eyes while the message is sent. By encrypting outbound messages, businesses are making that very important first step to securing their email. Email anti-theft applications built on DRM technology are the counterpart to encryption, protecting your email once it reaches the recipient's computer.

The first adopters of DRM were primarily enterprises involved in finance, government services and high-tech manufacturing businesses (1). Today the powerful protection of anti-theft software is affordable and easy to use and can be benefited from by small and medium businesses alike.

With Digital Rights Management, the author of the email can identify exactly what the recipient can and cannot do with the message. Anti-theft controls allow you to indicate whether the email can be copied, forwarded, printed and even screen captured; content protection is within reach via such anti-theft specifications that prevent unintended misuse and redistribution.

Businesses of any size can take advantage of DRM based anti-theft applications to easily secure corporate records, as well as client information. Protecting intellectual information not only makes a business more competitive, but also projects the image of a trusted company to its customers. Email anti-theft software with DRM provides both, the sender and recipient, peace of mind that sensitive data will remain confidential, rather than the lingering feeling of "what happens to my information after I've hit "send"?

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End Notes:

1.) Peter Sargent, "Digital Rights Management in the Enterprise," Jupiter Research, http://www.jupiterresearch.com, 25 May, 2004.