Research from Prefix IT, a PC security and management software product firm, claims that lax management attitudes have allowed what the firm terms a culture of data theft to flourish in the British workplace.
Some 60pc of workers admit to theft of confidential documents, customer databases, business contacts and sales leads.
Data theft is endemic, it is claimed, yet only 7pc of managers believe their companies have been affected by the issue and 29pc of managers say the topic is not recognised at board level. This climbs to half in SMEs. Few employees are aware of security measures or company policies that prevent workplace theft and the majority of workers do not believe it is ‘wrong’ to steal from the office, it is claimed.
What they say
Graeme Pitts-Drake, CEO of Prefix IT, said: “Whilst trust in staff is laudable, it is professionally negligent not to protect company assets appropriately through policy and technical means. Failing to communicate with staff about un-acceptable activities is tantamount to endorsing theft."
