Nearly a quarter of all corporate e-mail is personal in nature, and 62 percent of workers send business e-mail from personal accounts, according to a new survey.Seventy-two percent of workers sometimes use their work e-mail accounts to forward jokes, photos, video clips, and other nonwork related messages to coworkers, and another 12 percent of workers said they share music files through corporate e-mail, potentially “violating copyright laws, occupying server storage and eating large amounts of bandwidth,” according to survey authors Mirapoint Inc., an e-mail security vendor, and The Radicati Group Inc., an IT research firm. The Radicati Group talked to 363 corporate e-mail users in a September online survey.Coupled with an April survey finding that 33 percent of corporate e-mail is unsolicited spam, the new survey shows that more than half of all corporate e-mail is not work related, the companies said in a Monday press release.While it may not be surprising that many employees use corporate e-mail for personal reasons, the practice can cause problems, said Craig Carpenter, Mirapoint’s director of corporate marketing and global channels. There’s a perception that “everyone does it,” but the survey attempted to quantify the personal use of corporate e-mail, he said. Forwarding jokes, photos and other personal information to coworkers can expose employers to lawsuits, Carpenter said. “Whether it’s sexually explicit or racially insensitive, there are a myriad of ways it could be inappropriate,” he said.Ninety-seven percent of the respondents said they have personal e-mail accounts, and 25 percent of them said they regularly forward company e-mail messages to personal accounts, and 62 percent said they sometimes send business e-mail from their personal accounts. When workers send company e-mail from personal accounts, they can expose their employers to a number of risks, Carpenter said. He called the percentage of workers using their personal e-mail accounts to send out work-related e-mail “alarming.”Although there may be innocuous reasons for doing so, companies can’t monitor such e-mail messages under compliance rules, and employees can send out company trade secrets or intellectual property through personal e-mail, Carpenter said.“The vast, vast majority of employees … are not trying to do anything wrong,” he said. “People just don’t think about it, but this can be a challenging situation for employers.” By Grant Gross, IDG News Service Related content opinion The Importance of Identity Management in Security By Charles Pelton Nov 28, 2023 5 mins Cybercrime Artificial Intelligence Data Management brandpost Sponsored by Rocket Software Why data virtualization is critical for business success Data is your most valuable resource—but only if you can access it fast enough to address present challenges. Data virtualization is the key. By Milan Shetti, CEO of Rocket Software Nov 28, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Rocket Software The hybrid approach: Get the best of both mainframe and cloud Cloud computing and modernization often go hand in hand, but that doesn’t mean the mainframe should be left behind. A hybrid approach offers the most value, enabling businesses to get the best of both worlds. By Milan Shetti, CEO Rocket Software Nov 28, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Rimini Street Dear Oracle Cloud…I need my own space Access results from a recent Rimini Street survey about why enterprises are rethinking their Oracle relationship and cloud strategy. By Tanya O'Hara Nov 28, 2023 5 mins Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe