Sophos Anti-Virus, a world leader in corporate anti-virus
protection, is calling on the NSW Law Reform Commission to clarify
its most recent report titled "Surveillance at Work and in the
Community", published 6 December 2001.
The report encourages the NSW Government to change workplace
laws and force employers to provide the Industrial Relations
Commission (IRC) with 14 Days written notice before accessing
employee computers or emails. The report cites privacy concerns
about covert and overt surveillance and seeks to prevent businesses
from electronically scanning employee communications and files.
But Sophos points out that the electronic scanning of company
email is rightly regarded as 'best practice' by industry security
experts, because it dramatically reduces the considerable risk
posed by email-borne computer viruses.
"Stopping companies from scanning emails sent through their own
networks would deny them a powerful tool for controlling computer
viruses," said Stuart Palmer, Managing Director of Sophos
Anti-Virus in Australia. "It is paradoxical that implementing these
security recommendations, which the Law Reform Commission sees as
an improvement, could leave companies open to complaints or even
litigation for having a slack security setup!"
Sophos's ten point plan for a safe computing policy can be found
here.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.