“Culture of carelessness” – losing devices, endangering company data

By Sarah Morgan

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies have been causing headaches to IT managers and company executives, ever since they became popular. However, a recent survey reveals that there is something even worse than careless employees using their own devices for work. Can you guess what it is? It’s none other than careless employees using and losing work devices. Information Agecollected the most alarming figures from a recent survey of 2,500 UK adults, by Vision Critical and Trend Micro.

The most disturbing news to IT managers is that more than one quarter (27 per cent) of participants have reported having up to three work devices lost or stolen, while only 11 per cent have ever lost a personal device.

But the so-called “culture of carelessness” stretches well beyond losing devices. Although 31 per cent of participants use Wi-Fi hotspots on a regular basis, less than half of them (44 per cent) check security levels of networks before connecting. The same percentage said they are more concerned about losing personal content, like photos, documents and banking details, than sensitive business data. Only 3 per cent were concerned about enabling cybercriminals to access corporate data.

Rik Ferguson, global VP of security research at Trend Micro said: “The survey shows a worrying attitude of carelessness towards work devices and an ignorance of the full impact of losing data without the correct security measures being put in place.”

“Employees should take the same amount of care with their work device as they do with their personal ones, and be made fully aware of the procedures and risks before a device is given to them.”

About the Author:       
Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry.