Savills was forced into shutting down its computer network last week as it tried to stop a sensitive board-level e-mail being leaked to the industry.
The agent crashed its system after an e-mail detailing the agenda for an upcoming board meeting was accidentally sent to all Savills directors and not just to the members of its board.
The mistake was realised just one minute later and the document recalled. However, a number of e-mails are understood to have been forwarded to clients and other agents outside Savills.
The agent is then understood to have shut down its entire network for several hours in a bid to curtail the leakage. Sources claimed that it has since launched an investigation to find out who may have sent the e-mail on and where it may have been sent.
The e-mail is said to have detailed areas in the business where the board believed it could make further cost reductions, and named members of DTZ that it would consider approaching.
One recipient said: “A secretary accidentally sent the minutes to a board meeting and the agenda of the next meeting to almost everyone in the company. The contents included a list of agents from DTZ that Savills could poach and a range of cost-cutting measures that the company could take, including which parts of the business could be reduced.”
Savills has been tight-lipped about the measures it is taking during the economic downturn to curtail costs.
The agent was unable to comment on the e-mail leak.
