Simple Guidelines for Email Compliance
Email is the prevailing form of communication within many organizations so it’s crucial to set rules for how it should be used. As some industries face stricter rules than others, the odds are quite high that your organization is subject to regulations on how to retain records. Regulations are something that just about any organization has to deal with. The real challenge, however, is to know which guidelines to adhere to and keep up to date as they are constantly changing. To meet government regulations and avoid the reality of non-compliance fines and penalties, email reviews are a necessity for many companies.
Many organizations have adopted the practice of reviewing emails for acceptable usage and policy enforcement. It is therefore necessary for email usage, security and communication polices to be airtight, easily understood and, most of all, enforceable. Below are a few simple guidelines for email compliance that will protect you from potential litigation and at the same time provide you with some user benefits.
Ensure that emails cannot be changed or deleted.
Encrypting and compressing emails will ensure that no alteration can be made. When retrieved from the compliance archive, a forensically sound copy can be produced in the email’s original format. This is especially critical in legal situations, as emails need to be the original format and not one that could have been tampered with or edited in any way.
Set rules regarding email usage.
As email is the quintessential communications tool in an organization, it is important to define a clear and transparent framework for behavior, setting down what’s acceptable and what isn’t when it comes to using email. The ability to audit its use and enforce its rules is a simple first step in demonstrating the intention to meet regulations and goes a long way toward avoiding liability.
Ensure that the whole email compliance process is audit-able.
In the email compliance email archiving solutions archive, it is necessary to maintain log files and counts as evidential proof. Log files must establish that no emails can circumvent the capturing of all emails. In such cases, all emails can then be searched for, found and viewed in their original format together with attachments.
The user should not have the responsibility of archiving emails.
By automating the entire process of email archiving, the user is not burdened by the decision making process of selecting the emails that are important. This way all archiving emails that have been sent or received either internally or externally, can be captured in their original format and archived in a secure manner.
Prevent data loss.
As the data held in systems contains valuable information, it must be guarded carefully against disclosure of confidential information within the organization. Most processes are covered by an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), as the security of your data can be unintentionally threatened by new employees or maliciously targeted by disgruntled employees.
Eradicate spam, phishing and malware.
It must be ensured that the email infrastructure is protected against malware, viruses, spyware and other threats to system and data integrity. A solution that can handle malware, spam, and denial of service attacks and harvesting of email addresses is required for this. External risk associated with data loss can be eliminated by blocking threats at the perimeter all the way through to the internal mail servers and desktops.
Email compliance is increasingly critical to the way businesses operate. It need not be costly, but ignoring email compliance now could result in expensive and time consuming costs in the future.
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