Image Analyser prevents illicit images being disseminated in the workplace

(24/08/2009)

iCritical has launched Image Analyser, a new tool as part of its core email security offering, which can identify, monitor and block pornographic images that are being distributed by email over client IT networks.

The iCritical Image Analyser enables organisations to enforce an acceptable email use policy which includes restrictions on the use of company email resources to transmit and receive pornographic image content. By ensuring policy compliance, Image Analyser enables organisations to seriously reduce their exposure to the risks of legal liability, sexual harassment lawsuits, reduced productivity, damaged company image and reputation and blockages to network bandwidth, which could occur as a result of illicit images being disseminated in the workplace.

The solution combines technology, education and monitoring to combat the social issue of inappropriate content being transmitted between individuals:

· Technology - Sophisticated real-time composition analysis is used to reliably distinguish between pornographic and non-pornographic images. Once an image has been identified as suspect, details such as sender, recipient, date and time can be logged by the solution.

· Education - Upon identification of the sender and receiver, an automatic email notification can be sent to inform them that they have breached company acceptable email use policy. This both educates them that this type of content is not acceptable and informs them that the organisation has a means to identify inappropriate images.

· Monitoring – Activity levels can be monitored over time to ensure that there is clear management visibility on the level of the issue and the parties involved.

Chris Gee, Director at iCritical, comments: “Image Analyser takes email security to a whole new level, by offering organisations protection against significant legal and operational threats which could result from individuals transmitting and receiving pornographic material while at work.

“It is a customisable solution, allowing users to define what they deem as acceptable and non-acceptable image content and it is available in either an enforcement mode or monitoring mode. This enables users to choose whether they wish to totally block delivery of suspect image content or copy suspect messages while allowing delivery to the intended recipient.

“Senior management teams in many organisations would be shocked to find out how frequently their networks are being used to carry indecent email images, yet ignorance is not an adequate defence against the potential legal, financial and operational consequences. The risks are just too great to ignore this common workplace issue.”

Image Analyser has been launched as an optional feature mailCritical, its fully managed email security solution.

mailCritical offers:
· 24/7 protection against real time threats through leading anti-spam and anti-virus engines
· Robust enforcement of acceptable email use policies
· Disaster recovery as standard
· Email archiving as an option
· Image Analyser as an option
· An online management portal, which gives remote access to network and performance reports.
mailCritical can be deployed either on-site, as a gateway solution, or off-site, more commonly known as ‘in-the-cloud’.

Related topics:  Data management and data security   Network Security   Security management and policies 

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