Small firms' email systems are in danger of collapse as employees send and receive holiday photographs, experts warn.
The message servers of SMEs are particularly vulnerable when image files are sent and received because they generally don't have large IT departments to monitor and manage the systems, collaboration software company Softalk said.
Summer is a particularly bad time as employees share digital photographs and videos of their vacations with family, friends and colleagues via their employer's email network.
"For many small and medium sized businesses email is now as important if not more important than phone calls and traditional post," said Simon Bates, director of Softalk.
"Yet many businesses are relying on old email systems that they first implemented when email first became widely available and before it became a business critical system."
Softalk advises firms to set limits for the maximum size of attachments that can be sent and received and quotas for individual users mailboxes
Server should be also used to prevent users from sending or receiving certain types of attachment and anti-virus filters should be installed to stop harmful viruses slipping through disguised as holiday pictures.
