Killing the Corporate Hydra: Spam E-Mail

employees who were offended by an e-mail joke
titled “25 Reasons Why Beer is Better Than Women.”
As a result, at least 27 percent of Fortune 500
organizations have had to defend themselves against
claims of sexual harassment stemming from
inappropriate, i.e., pornographic, spam e-mail.4

Using company resources to transmit e-mail content
that do not reflect company policies—such as racist
or sexist views—presents an additional legal
quagmire. Traditionally, employers have been
responsible and liable for the actions of their
employees in the workplace. However, if an
organization can demonstrate a “duty of care” to
reduce unacceptable employee activity, then it
could minimize its potential liability.

As of June 2001, IDC research indicated that 48
percent of employers that monitor employee e-mail
say their intention is to protect against viruses and
the loss of information; 21 percent monitor
employee e-mail as a way to limit legal liability.
Wasted IT resources: Finally, the huge and
growing volume of spam e-mail consumes a
significant amount of network resources, wasting
bandwidth as well as considerable amounts of
network storage. When an e-mail contains a
delivery mechanism for malicious code—such as
backdoors that trigger Trojan horses and viruses—
spam becomes more than a nuisance; it is a security
threat that can wreak havoc on an organization’s
entire IT infrastructure.

McAfee SpamKiller: Proactive Threat
Protection for the Enterprise
SpamKiller™ product family from McAfee® Security
provides industry-leading anti-spam solutions, helping
companies of all sizes effectively handle their spam
challenge. The McAfee SpamKiller product family
incorporates leading-edge technology called McAfee
SpamAssassin,™ acquired in 2003 by McAfee Security.
McAfee’s SpamKiller product vision is consistent with its
overall Proactive Threat Protection strategy, which

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