Proofpoint: Staff need to know you’re watching

Gerry Tucker, regional head APAC, Proofpoint told CRN that while increased visibility will make it easier for employers to monitor and manage company data, communicating the organisation's security policy to employees is crucial.

“Nobody wants to have their privacy broken, but if an employer is clear about their doing it then you can strike a balance,” he said. “At the end of the day organisations are looking to prevent breaches of policy and prevent leakages of information and one of the most effective ways of doing that is to ensure employees understand there is a policy in place around email communication.”

According to Tucker, the proposed legislation reflects a growing attitude that information is a highly valued asset, regardless of whether it comes from a government or commercial agency, or an individual.

“There’s more recognition that a citizen’s individual information is extremely valuable, not only to them but to the organisations that hold it,” he said.

From a channel perspective, resellers stand to benefit from the amendments to the Privacy Act as businesses attach greater importance to protecting employee information and seek ongoing services in order to do this effectively, claimed Tucker.

“[Data leakage] is much more of a solutions environment with a much more consultative approach and there is significant opportunity for the channel to add more value-added services on top of a product set or technology solution,” he said. “What I think we’ll see from the data loss prevention side of things is for every dollar of product sold, the channel will be selling one to two dollars worth of wraparound security services.”

Tucker added that at both the early consultative stage of defining requirements, to managing those requirements and having audits in place, there’s significant revenue potential for the channel. Resellers should therefore communicate to businesses the importance of being aware of the content within their organisation, he said.

“You can see there’s growing awareness and growing focus on ensuring data is protected and organisations are effectively managing and controlling people’s personal information. The onus is going to be on the organisation to manage an individual’s confidential information and make sure it’s not leaked,” said Tucker.