INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security
Employees: The biggest
cyber security threat to
businesses today?
WinMagic marked its appearance at Cloud Security Expo with the
release of a new study analysing the disconnect between end-user
employees and IT managers.
T
wo simultaneous studies polled
1,000 employees and 250 IT
managers respectively from
businesses across UK to discover the
importance of IT and data security
in the workplace. Rifts in perception
versus reality between these two groups
revealed habits and knowledge-gaps that
compromise UK PLC’s cyber security.
High-profile breaches have prompted
action:
In the wake of high profile data
breaches such as TalkTalk, employees
and senior management are more
aware of the importance of data
security; and are taking action.
Correspondingly, 44% employees feel
their organisation has placed greater
emphasis on data security, and 60% IT
www.intelligentcio.com
THE MAJORITY OF IT
MANAGERS (63%)
STATE THAT THEY ARE
CONCERNED ABOUT
EMPLOYEES STORING
COMPANY DATA ON
PRIVATE CLOUD; ON
PERSONAL HARDWARE
THIS RISES TO 68%
Managers admit to having taken action
as a direct result of high-profile breaches.
The majority of employees (31%)
describe themselves as the biggest
IT security threat to their businesses,
followed by hackers (30%).
IT managers believe hackers represent
the greatest threat (37%) followed by
employees (24%) and a lack of rigid
security policies (22%).
Employees (92%) and IT managers
(92%) agree that IT and data security
is important to their business.
A worrying 12% of employees suggest
that they never received any training
or communication on data and IT
security despite 80% of IT managers
claiming to communicate or train on
the subject once a year or more.
The call for democratised
responsibility
As employees become more aware
of the impact of data breaches, and
the need for IT security, they are
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