Employees tell friends company secrets

Eight per cent of employees would happily share sensitive information with friends at rival companies, according to a new survey.

The research carried out by web security company Websense found that one in twelve workers would pass on confidential information about the company they worked for to mates in rival firms.

The study found that 51 per cent of respondents felt it very unlikely their company would realise or have the facilities to monitor whether critical data had been wrongly or accidentally distributed outside the company.

Nearly a third (31 per cent) have tried to guess an administrator password on their PC, with 21 per cent admitting trying to access protected files, including Finance and HR data.

The research found that 46 per cent have allowed friends and family to use their company laptop, which the company said "allowed one-click access to their company's sensitive information."

52 per cent of respondents have tried to hack into colleagues' email accounts.

"It is a real eye opener to realise that so many UK employees are willing to put aside confidentiality agreements for friends," said , Frank Coggrave, regional director at Websense. "When you see that over half of the people surveyed had tried to hack into a colleague's email account, this should start alarm bells ringing for many companies."

He said that even if these actions are completely innocent, the implications are huge for companies leaving their data security to chance.

"There are so many potential holes in security that can expose an organisation. Not taking proactive steps to secure confidential data can lead to extremely costly information leaks," said Coggrave.

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