Great Security Blunders: Page 2

"Ill Just E-mail to Myself"

One of the most common refrains in the world of cubicle workers is, “I’ll email it to my Google account.” The study finds that 23% of staffers said they’ve used Web-based e-mail to transfer data out of the workplace. This e-mail could be compromised by, say, a family member who knows the password – among other means.

It’s all too common that sensitive data leaves company premises. Almost nine out of ten – 88 percent – of employees transfer confidential information outside of the organization, the study finds.

And consider these frequent employee security snafus:

• One in five (21%) of respondents admitted to leaving confidential or sensitive documents on a printer tray.

• A quarter of employees (26%) do not shred confidential of sensitive documents when they have finished with them.

Mobile Employees = Mobile Security Holes

“In today’s information economy and a mobile work force, I just don’t work in the office, I work extensively in the airplane, at home, at Starbucks,” Solanki says. “So my data is mobile.”

This creates its new risk. Employees in the study were asked what devices they used to take company documents out of the workplace. They answered: laptops (41%), USB memory sticks (22%), CD-ROMs (13%) and Mobile phones or Blackberrys (3%).

These small devices are exceptionally easy to lose track of. Of the respondents who admitted to losing or misplacing their devices, equal numbers said they 1) left it in a public 2) it fell out of their pocket or bag, 3) they left it at a meeting. Almost one of ten (8%) left it on public transport.

So what’s the answer? In this article’s follow-up, Datamation will look at five key strategies for reducing inadvertent employee security breeches.