For instance, respondents were asked: "Have your or any member of your organization ever sent information via email that was in violation of regulatory compliance?" An unexpectedly high 73.7% of those from companies with 100 or more employees said they did so accidently. Another 28% admitted to doing so intentionally. Smaller businesses faired better, perhaps because many of them escape the regulatory grip. Roughly 25% of those organizations answered yes to "accidentally" or "intentionally."
It also appears "sender's remorse" is a common affliction. About 50% indicated that they have worried about what might happen to emails after they sent them. Around 20% said that emails have "haunted" them after being sent.
A surprisingly low 3 out of 10 respondents said that they send private and confidential business information by email. One would think that figure would be close to 100%.
About 10% of respondents say they have accidently leaked confidential information. And 60% of those surveyed have accidently hit "reply all" when responding to an e-mail.
The question is, after about 40 years of using email, why don't we have a better handle on sharing data more securely with it? Security awareness training might help, but probably not a lot. Some companies may consider sanctioning employees who abuse email by sending regulated information insecurely, while others may let users know that their work emails are monitored.
