- Connect with us:
- |
- |
- RSS
- |
- Newsletter
-
IT Security A Blackhole Says Survey|
- By CXOtoday Staff, Feb 12, 2008 1729 hrs IST
- Tags : IT Security A Blackhole Says Survey
-
The findings of the SOS 'State of Security' survey conducted in India have been announced. The survey, commissioned by Websense and undertaken by The Nielsen Company, India, assesses the impact of the Internet at work and gauges awareness of Internet security risks among employees.
The study of employees working in 450 organizations across Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad, surveyed employees with Internet access at work in large businesses and small and medium enterprises.
"The survey findings highlight that a majority of employees today spend a significant time on the Internet when at work. However, the majority of these employees are not aware of and hence not worried about the security threats arising from the Internet," said Surendra Singh, regional director of Websense, SAARC.
Key findings of 2007 'State of Security' India, employee's survey:
Unsafe IT behaviour leads to unintentional loss of confidential information
63% of respondents from Delhi use their personal email ID for work purposes against the average of 36%. Delhi and Bangalore also have the highest proportion of respondents (32%) who send work documents to personal e-mail accounts versus the average of 23%. Given the nature of data that BFSI deals with, 42% of employees in this vertical use personal e-mail for work-related activities. In Bangalore, an average of 17% of respondents admitted to clicking on links in e-mail sent from unknown sources and 22% on pop-up ads, highlighting a significant section of Internet users who are ignorant of online threats.
Leaking information a job threat
57% employees feel leaking sensitive company information or infecting their company with malicious spyware or viruses (38%) puts them at greater risk of losing their job than not adhering to their organization's Internet policy (20%). Almost one-third employees (31%) believe they will lose their job on viewing adult content at the workplace and 22% said they would lose their job if found downloading unauthorized software.
Employees surfing behavior
64% of respondents admitted they are bit fearful of the security dangers of the Web and hence surf only safe Web sites. However, 39% of all respondents agreed that they download movies, music, software, etc. while at work. Significantly, 30% said they surf aimlessly with no particular destination in mind and about the same proportion of respondents said they surf without bothering about online security.
Internet - a critical work enabler
All employees surveyed spend an average of 4.25 hrs per day on the Internet. Employees spend 45% of their time (3.5 hours) per day surfing work-related Web sites, the highest being in Chennai, 50% (4.25 hours) and Hyderabad, 65% (5.5 hours). The average time spent on non work-related Web sites is 5 hours per week. Enterprises incur a productivity loss of approximately Rs. 160,000 per employee per annum due to non work-related surfing.
Organisation's Internet security
Almost 70% of employees in India appeared confident of their IT department's capabilities to protect them against every Internet security threat.
Web is biggest source of infection
52% of all employees surveyed believe that the Web is a key source of infection followed by e-mail (39%) and instant messaging (4%). In similar findings, IT managers also believe the Web (48%) to be a key source of network infection followed by e-mail (46%).
Data leakage
35% of employees feel most worried about losing both personal as well as work-related information. However, 28% of employees do not feel worried at all about any personal or private information being stolen or accessed from their work PC.
Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted by The Nielsen Company, India across five Indian metros - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad among Employees of 450 large (over 750 employees), medium (300 - 750 employees) and small organisations (150 - 300 employees) in India with Internet access to gauge the impact of Internet at work and security risks it poses. The organisations were chosen across key verticals - Manufacturing, BFSI, IT/ITES, Pharmaceuticals, etc.
Related Links:
Security Market: Not Was, But Is And Is To Come
SCO Security Advisory
-
Discussion Board
- Write a message
