Most workers are willing to forward unsavoury material to co-workers, download material on leaving, give passwords to friends and colleagues and to pass friends competitive information, according to a survey
Most workers are willing to forward unsavoury material to co-workers, download material on leaving, give passwords to friends and colleagues and to pass friends competitive information, according to a survey in advance of Infosecurity Europe 2002 in London from April 23 to 25. The survey by the organisers of Infosecurity Europe 2002 and the new ‘human firewall council’ in an effort to find how ethical workers are with the valuable company information they are privy to on their computers. The survey of 150 office workers found that most were more than happy to tell interviewers their passwords once warmed up to the survey questions. It came as no surprise that many knew that the
most commonly used password is the word ‘password’. However, it shocked the interviewers that many boasted the origins of their own passwords, such as ‘my car – a Porsche boxter’, ‘my pet’s name – Fred’, ‘my country of origin – Finland’, ‘my own name – Hattie’. Workers are more loyal to their friends than their employer,
with 51pc admitting that they would download company information if asked to by a friend. Similarly, 42pc would be happy to tell their friends their company password. Most workers show little corporate loyalty when it comes to moving on to another job. More than half, 54 per cent of workers would download contacts or competitive information to take with them to their next job, which shows they think it valuable enough to risk stealing it. By taking this information they are not only giving away a vital asset to a competitor but also making their employer potentially liable under the Data Protection Act, the survey organisers say. If workers came across a file containing everyone’s personal details,
61 per cent of workers didn’t think they would be able to resist
looking at it. However, they were slightly more ethical when asked
whether they would show it to others in the office with 85pc saying they would keep it to themselves. The survey showed how lax workers are in general about password security, say the organisers, with 64 pc of workers saying they had given their password to a colleague. Tamar Beck, Director of Infosecurity Europe 2002, said: ‘This survey proves people’s loyalties are mainly to themselves, not to their employer. Staff are not necessarily uncaring about security, just naive or ignorant. Employers therefore need to instil in their people a culture of protecting information with policies and training which support the expensive security technology they may have already invested in.’ David Blackman, Director of Pentasafe Security Technologies and founder of www.humanfirewall.org said: ‘Chief Security Officers who are primarily members of our council know people are the ‘weakest link’ so these findings are no surprise.’
