Email is the most widely used Internet application in the world. Email and other emerging methods for electronic communication help to fulfill the need for the quick response times and immediate gratification required in today’s business environment. Given email’s
pervasiveness throughout the industrialized world today, most organizations cannot function without it. The critical business processes that email supports such as sales orders, customer service, and employee collaboration have created a requirement for email availability at all times.

As if the business needs surrounding email aren’t enough for organizations to manage, there has been a recent surge of government regulations for email compliance. These laws, which affect large and small companies alike in practically every industry, include protecting confidential customer information, corporate governance, law enforcement investigations, and the overall need to ensure that email is being used and managed properly from an employee perspective. There are dozens of issues surrounding the security of email in business today – many of which are often overlooked. Email security issues include:

· Policy development and management
· Email retention
· Employee monitoring
· Data storage
· Patch management
· Malware
· Spam
· Legal liabilities
· Confidentiality of intellectual property
· Data integrity
· Network and data availability