In the age of corporate responsibility and liability in which we live, ensuring that email data is properly secured and protected has never been more important. Organisations have a responsibility to ensure that procedures and systems are fully up to date and in compliance with legislation in relation employee use of email and data storage.
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 has a host of features which help businesses to ensure that their email systems are fully secure and compliant. The following article explains some of the legislation that businesses should be aware of when handling their email communications, and how Exchange Server 2007 can help them to avoid falling foul of these.
The Data Protection Act
Perhaps one of the most significant rulings in respect to email data is the Data Protection Act (DPA). This states that, on request, individuals have the right to access personal information held on records, including emails, about them. It is therefore vital that businesses are equipped with systems which enable them to access quickly and easily all personal information which may be contained within email communications.
Under the DPA, organisations are required to take necessary technical and organisational measures to ensure that personal information is not unlawfully processed or subject to accidental loss or destruction.
Email systems in most organisations will contain vast amounts of personal information, which needs to be treated as confidential and, as such, should be protected by enhanced security provisions.
Exchange Server 2007 ’s secure, encrypted archiving feature helps to ensure that organisations have the necessary protection. It also offers an external backup, which could prove vital in the event of an in-house system failure, and subsequent loss of data.
Freedom of Information Act
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which came into force on the 1st January 2005, Public Authorities have the duty to provide access to recorded information to members of the general public at their request. Email falls under this category, meaning that authorities are obliged to provide copies of email communication within 20 working days of request. Many organisations have found such requests very difficult to deal with, and without the facility to archive sent and received emails will continue to do so.
More seriously, Section 77 of the Act makes it a criminal offence to alter, deface, erase, destroy or conceal email, with the intention of preventing disclosure by a public authority. This personal liability can be imposed on the individual concerned or others within the organisation. In order to protect the organisation and those within it from liability, a fully auditable system is required to enable them to provide evidence that they had no part to play in any wrongdoing.
Under the Act’s S46 Code, organisations are required to give the same level of priority to recording emails, as they do with all other forms of data. The act states that organisations should: “bring together responsibilities for records in all formats, including electronic records, throughout their life cycle, from planning and creation through to ultimate disposal”
Clearly, an auto-archiving function, such as that offered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 would help to implement this. Genesis is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Hosted Microsoft Exchange solutions. To find out more about Exchange Server 2007 visit: http://www.genesis.co.uk/exchange2007 |
Added: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:28 am GMT 