Nervous office workers are trawling company networks for
sensitive data as job losses loom.
A survey of 600 workers in New York, London and Amsterdam by
data security firm
Cyber-Ark found that a
third of workers would be willing to double their hours for free,
and a third would take a salary cut to keep their job.
However, the desperation to keep jobs is also being matched by
the attempts to garner sensitive information usually out of
bounds.
The survey found that 56% of workers admitted to being worried
about losing their jobs. Alarmingly, in preparation, more than half
have already downloaded competitive corporate data and plan to use
the information as a negotiating tool to secure their next
post.
Overall, 71% surveyed declared they would definitely take
company data with them to their next employer. Top of the list of
desirable information is the customer and contact databases, with
plans and proposals, product information, and access/password codes
all proving popular choices.
HR records and legal documents were the least most-favoured data
that employees were interested in taking.
Rumours about lay-offs would send 46% of the workers scurrying
about trying to obtain the "lay off" list. Half said they would try
using their access rights to snoop around the network and, if this
failed, they would consider bribing a "mate" in the IT department
to do it for them.