1 in 4 office workers rely on unauthorised personal devices

A new study into remote working habits by the cyber security and data analytics firm, CybSafe, has found that many British office workers have adopted poor personal cyber security behaviours as they work from home.

  • 4 years ago Posted in
The study, which asked 600 UK office workers about their remote working cyber security practices, found that 1 in 4 workers (23 per cent) are relying on unauthorised personal devices to work from home, and that 1 in 10 (9%) share their work devices with others in their household.

 

Software updates proved to be another common problem for telecommuters. 1 in 5 (20%) said they didn’t keep their collaboration and video conferencing software - such as Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams - up to date. 23% claimed they did not ensure software on devices connected to their home WiFi network, such as work computers, was up-to-date. 

 

These cyber security behaviours, CybSafe’s study suggests, may be linked to a lack of appropriate training and/or working from home policy. According to the research, 65% of workers have not received any training in the last six months on how to keep data secure when working remotely. Just 37% of respondents said they had been provided with a working from home cyber security policy by the beginning of lockdown.

 

Commenting on the findings, Oz Alashe, CEO of CybSafe, said: “We now live in a world of borderless organisations where increasing numbers of people work remotely. Many are mobile. The lines between personal and professional are increasingly blurred. And everyone is at greater risk. 

 

“Some staff are making cyber security mistakes in their homes, and businesses will need to adjust their cyber security approaches accordingly. What may have worked in the past doesn’t necessarily work now. Cyber security policy as well as awareness and behaviour change programs will all require updates based on today’s working conditions.

 

Dr John Blythe, Head of Behavioural Science at CybSafe, added: “While our latest research suggests that many UK businesses have been forthcoming with changes to cyber security strategy, these haven’t taken place on the scale that we would have hoped for. The use of personal devices amongst office workers suggests that a small but significant minority of businesses either lack a remote working cyber security policy or are failing to meaningfully deliver that message. Moreover, security awareness training covering remote working still seems to be the exception, rather than the rule.”

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