Legal Liability

Today, legal and regulatory compliance issues are a major focus for businesses. Many executives are concerned about personal liability for their organization's breach of compliance or regulatory mandates.

Failing to provide a safe working environment for staff can also lead to considerable legal liability. This encompasses a wide range of issues, including:

• Inappropriate or offensive content - such as pornography, profanity, and lewd language
• Cyberbullying or Harassment - whether sexual, religious or bullying
• Discrimination - by age, race, nationality or economic status

On the other hand, employees also have several legal obligations, including:

• To avoid defaming the organization or bring the company into disrepute
• To avoid using company resources illegally, for instance, by sending spam or storing illegal images
• To safeguard company security (for example, not revealing passwords)
• To treat email messages and other IT resources as business tools - acting in the best interests of the company and upholding company standards

Costs of Not Providing a Safe Working Environment

Email creates a trail of evidence, thus increasing an organization's exposure to legal risk. The legal and collateral costs of not providing a safe working environment can be substantial. In many cases, employees have sued their bosses for failing to protect them from offensive content, harassment or discrimination. Some examples include:

• Chevron Corporation - paid four female employees US$2.2million to settle a lawsuit. The women claimed they were sexually harassed over an extended period. The catalyst which prompted the case was an email entitled "25 Reasons Why Beer is Better than Women"
• Continental Airlines - paid a female employee US$1.7million in damages after a harassment lawsuit. The employee claimed that she had been subject to vulgar statements, pornographic imagery and was described in a discriminatory manner by male colleagues in email
• Baker & McKenzie - one of the world's largest law firms was sued for US$3.5million for creating a "sexually hostile work environment"

The damages noted in these examples do not include the additional costs of defending against and recovering from the incident, including:

• Legal fees
• Loss of productivity as employees leave
• Distraction of other employees
• Time spent researching and engaging in legal procedures
• Recruitment costs for replacement employees
• Training and ramp-up costs for new employees
• Loss of reputation and good will for the organization

When an incident occurs, the employer's legal position is stronger with established, clear written policies defining acceptable use of the organization's resources, such as Web and email use. However, having a policy is not enough. The policy must be supported with education, consistent reinforcement, and an effective method of monitoring and enforcement. There are two very important reasons to use technology such as M86 Security solutions to enforce corporate acceptable use polices.

1. By using our technology, companies can demonstrate that reasonable and practical steps have been taken to prevent incidents of harassment, defamation or exposure to offensive material, and to protect confidential information from leaving the company. If an incident ever does occur, having a written Acceptable Use Policy, backed up by technology enforcement from M86 Security, provides an important part of a legal defense, or even a complete defense in some circumstances.

2. Perhaps more importantly, M86 Security solutions can often prevent these events from occurring in the first place. Use of profanity or derogatory language can be blocked, preventing incidents of harassment or bullying via email. Pornographic image content in emails can be blocked, preventing exposure to inappropriate content. Confidential information can be safeguarded via encryption, by blocking access to Web mail accounts, and by preventing employees from copying sensitive data onto removable media. Pirated software can be blocked by banning users from downloading certain file types from the Internet.

By intercepting potential policy breaches, M86 Security solutions help to reduce, or even eliminate, the legal risks arising from these incidents, saving organizations both time and money.