A survey by YouGov for Microsoft found that UK
businesses face a serious security threat from inside their own
walls.
Nearly a quarter (22%) of UK employees admitted to having
illegally accessed sensitive internal information such as salary
details on their employer’s IT systems and over half (54%) would do
so, given the opportunity.
The study highlights the challenge facing IT, HR and finance
departments in protecting confidential information from
non-authorised employees. When asked what type of information would
tempt them most, respondents said that HR and payroll information
was the most popular target (36%), followed by their manager’s
personal notes (28%) and their colleagues’ personal notes (25%). If
an opportunity presented itself, 6% said they would steal a
colleague’s password.
Despite all the attention paid to preventing external attacks,
as all IT security people know, the real threats exist inside the
organisation. And the defence against them is effective – and
policed - policies and procedures.
