Workplace web survey shows alarming gulf
Workplace web survey shows alarming gulf
A survey conducted among employees and IT managers into the Internet habits of employees in the workplace has uncovered a startling discrepancy between what employees actually admit to doing at work versus IT managers' perception of what is actually occurring in their corporate networks.
The most worrying discrepancy to show up in the survey, which was conducted by employee Internet management software provider Websense, related to IT security. While only two percent of employees with access to the Internet admitted to accessing online hacking tools at work, which is worrying enough in itself, a staggering 34 percent of IT managers said an employee has launched a hacking tool within their network.
In addition, the survey also exposed the fact that many IT managers are either not aware of, or do not fully understand the risks presented by new emerging Internet threats such as spyware, unsanctioned instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing and web-based viruses such as MyDoom. For example, nearly 95 percent of IT managers said they are confident that their company’s current antivirus software is able to stop viruses from attacking their company’s network, yet two-thirds reported that their organisations were infected by a web-based virus.
The poll, of 350 employees and 150 IT managers, also demonstrated a gulf between the amount of time employees claim they spend surfing the web for personal reasons and the amount of time IT managers believe employees really spend looking at non work related material on the Internet.
Employees only admit to spending two hours per week surfing the web for personal reasons, but IT managers believe that number to be more than six hours a week. Men are slightly more inclined to engage in personal web surfing than women, with 64 percent admitting to accessing non work related websites during working hours, compared to 55 percent of women.
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