Research shows that younger employees are more apt to take risks.
Mimecast this week released new research which highlights the risky behavior of employees using company-issued devices. More than 1,000 respondents worldwide were asked how aware they are of today’s cyber risks.
The results highlighted the need for better awareness training. This is because people are clicking on links or opening suspicious emails despite having been trained.
COVID-19 forces the question: is home working secure?
In a pandemic-ridden 2020, there are more people working remotely on company-issued devices than ever before. The home provides more privacy than an office, so employees are more apt to use their company-issued devices for personal use. This can potentially harm their organizations’ cybersecurity strategies.
Mimecast’s research found that 73% of respondents extensively use their company-issued device for personal matters. Not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds (60%) admitting to an increase in frequency since starting to work remote. The company has published these findings in an eBook entitled, “Company-issued Computers: What are employees really doing with them?”
According to the State of Email Security 2020 report, personal email and browsing the web/shopping online were already two areas of major concern for IT professionals.
73 percent said there was a risk to checking personal email as the cause of a serious security mistake. Similarly, 69% thought surfing the web or online shopping could likely cause an incident.
Risky behaviour is common and occurs most younger employees
Almost all (96%) of respondents claim to be aware that links in email, social media sites and websites can potentially infect their devices. However, this doesn’t always translate into safe behaviour. In fact, early half (45%) of survey respondents admitted to opening emails that they considered to be suspicious. The same percentage admitted to not reporting suspicious emails to their IT or security teams.
Despite being the most tech savvy generation, almost 60 percent of the 16-24 age group admitted to opening emails even though they looked suspicious.
Also read: Cybercrime becomes more sophisticated: ‘we can’t continue like this.’
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