The Dangers of Mixing Personal and Professional Emails

How Mixing Personal and Professional Emails Can Jeopardize Your Business

The Dangers of Mixing Personal and Professional Emails

How Mixing Personal and Professional Emails Can Jeopardize Your Business

Using personal email for work might seem like a convenient solution, but it really isn’t.

This seemingly innocent practice can expose both you and your employer to serious risks, including data breaches, privacy violations, and legal issues.

Many people use their personal email accounts for work-related purposes, such as accessing files, communicating with colleagues, or storing important information.

But when you send work emails to personal accounts, you lose corporate control and ownership of that information.

Protect your business - Keep work emails inhouse.

A Case of Corporate Espionage

A Case of Corporate Espionage

A man pondering how someone is getting his trade secerts

Letโ€™s delve into a real-life example to illustrate the potential dangers:

 

An employee left their job to work for a new employer in the same industry. The old and new employers were direct competitors. During their time at the old job, the employee had accessed their personal email on their work computer. When they left, the old employer still had access to this email account.

When the employee started at the new company, the new employer sent confidential information to the employee’s personal email. Neither the new employer nor the employee knew that the old employer was reading these emails. The old employer used this access to undermine the new employer’s business.

The old employer could see quotes, job specs, and compensation agreements. They used this information to create more competitive bids on jobs the new employer had in their pipeline.

Fortunately, it was eventually discovered that the old employer was accessing the employee’s personal email, and steps were taken to lock them out. However, by then, the damage was done. The new employer lost several contracts due to the old employer’s unfair and unethical behavior and had inadvertently given away operational secrets, including process information, pricing, and cost details.

How to Avoid This Scenario

How to Avoid This Scenario

To protect your business from similar risks, itโ€™s crucial to keep your personal and professional emails separate.

 

Here are some tips:

  1. Use Dedicated Accounts: Only use work emails for work purposes. Avoid using them for personal matters.
  2. Secure Access: Access work emails only on employer-authorized devices and through secure connections.
  3. Approved Storage: Store work files only on employer-approved platforms.
  4. No Forwarding: Never forward work emails to personal accounts.
  5. Strong Passwords: Keep your work email password unique, strong, and confidential.
Helpful tips to protect your business

Keep personal and professional emails separate to protect your business from significant security risks.

Keep personal and professional emails separate to protect your business from significant security risks.

To prevent scenarios like this, partner with FBTS. We will implement robust email security measures and ensure your company stays protected.

 

Avoid corporate espionage:

  1. Audit Email Practices
  2. Implement Email Security Training
  3. Monitor and Enforce Policies