One Third of Internet Use at Work is Personal Related
One Third of Internet Use at Work is Personal Related
Month Date, 2007: Websense has released an independently researched Australian State of Security report which has shown workers estimate their personal use of the internet accounts for one third (34.6%) of internet usage at work.
Employee’s taking part in the research also admitted that online banking was the biggest thing they couldn’t live without, with 46% of respondents, News & Sport followed behind this with 39%, personal email usage was next with 29% and 18% admitted searching for other jobs while at work.
“The survey provides a fascinating insight into the way people use the internet at work and how it is changing our lives” said Joel Camissar, Australian Manager at Websense
The research also showed that 53% of employees admitted to sending work documents to personal email accounts which is an admitted serious security risk. Worse then this was 20% admitting they opened suspicious emails and 17% admitting they clicked on pop-up advertisements.
Whilst these figures may be reassuring for the Nigerian email scammers out there who’s nefarious online activities make up a visible chunk of the countries gross domestic product, for IT managers these figures represent an unprecedented level of risk.
“It’s a major productivity drain and a security concern for companies” said Camissar.
The report was produced by research and advisory company, StollzNow and encompassed 317 individuals including 158 employees of businesses who used the internet and 159 IT managers.
“The real question is how secure is online business? The only answer is somewhat secure” says Neil Stollznow, Managing Director of StollzNow Research.