Users in many organizations encounter PST files during their
work, especially if they are using MS Outlook. Even though the emails being
sent and received contain sensitive and business-critical information, the PST
files are typically not managed well. It causes a significant risk to the
business and presents ongoing issues for the IT administration. An overview of
the main challenges and concerns of PST files:
PST Files “ What are they?
PST or Personal Storage Table files are not something people
not in IT know. MS Outlook, one of the most popular desktop email clients,
creates these files when the œAuto Archive function is on. The benefit of
switching on the ˜auto-archive function in Outlook is that users can bypass
the limits of the mailbox typically imposed by the IT department to prevent
overloading the central mail server. The PST files are usually stored on the
device used by the Outlook user but may be stored in other places like the
server and removable drives.
PST File Security
The extent of security of PST files depends on several
factors, however, PST files do not rank very high on security since they are
portable and can be easily copied and moved to Outlook clients on other
devices. While you can password-protect these files, the protection is not very
robust, and you can bypass them using simple programs available online.
PST File Reliability
As useful as PST files may be, they are infamously unreliable.
It is because they were designed to hold small amounts of email data, but since
then the volume of emails received and sent by users has grown exponentially,
making them unstable. Most users are unaware of the hazards of overly large PST
files in Outlook and continue accumulating thousands of emails. Large PST files
are also susceptible to corruption when stored, shared, or accessed over a
network because they are intended to be stored on local devices on which
Outlook is installed and used. According to Tech Republic, PST file corruption is a big issue when multiple users share them.
PST File Availability
Most users think PST files to be universally available; however,
Outlook must be able to access their storage location. While it may be okay for
users with access to local storage, they run into problems if they need to work
from different devices or locations. They also cannot access their PST files if
they use Outlook Web Access (OWA). Also, you must appreciate that you can lose
access to PST files due to unexpected device shutdowns like desktop crashes,
power failures, and fluctuations. Sometimes, users close PST files but cannot
reopen them because they have forgotten where they are located and cannot find
them again. Because these orphaned PST files contain valuable and
business-critical information, you need to preserve them even though you cannot
access them. If you cannot access a file due to corruption, you can try out
a PST fix available
online.
PST File Backup
The regularity of backing up PST files depends entirely on
who is responsible for their maintenance. If they are located on central
servers, the IT department would be backing them up as per a regular schedule,
however, if the PST file resides on local machines, as they invariably do, it
is probable individual users would be following any scheduled backup routine.
The lack of regular backups of vital information presents a challenge to the
company's IT administration.
PST File - Extent of Use
With Microsoft Outlook being among the most popular email
desktop clients, you can be sure that millions of PST files exist, mainly on
users' desktops. While most companies don't do much to manage and maintain
these files while the users are operating the Outlook account, some copy the
contents of the employee's mailbox when he leaves the company. However, the
practice may not be consistent, so there could be loads of critical information
without any oversight. Some companies use the PST file format to transfer large
amounts of information from one location to another and even to other entities.
As far as employees are concerned, they are likely to be generating PST files
without knowing if they use MS Outlook with the œAuto Archive feature turned
on. While it may help to bypass the corporate mailbox quotas, they may not
understand the risk they are exposing to their email correspondence.
Conclusion
On average, there may be two to four PST files per active
mailbox. The size of each file may be several GBs. A rough calculation says,
around 10,000 emails will generally account for around one GB. While it may not
seem a large number, you can appreciate the scale of the issue when you
consider the total number of email accounts in the organization and multiply it
by three, the average number of PST files per in-box. While the sheer size of
disk space occupied by the PST files is not the main problem, the fact that
these files contain important data about customers, finances, employees,
vendors, research, etc. are largely unsupervised and unprotected is a matter of
great concern.