A new study from HP has highlighted the precarious – and often controversial – situations IT teams face when trying to improve cybersecurity for those working remotely.
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The new Rebellions & Rejections report from HP Wolf Security surveyed 1,100 IT decision-makers and also received insights from a YouGov online survey of 8,443 office workers who are now working from home.
The study found that IT workers often feel they have no choice but to compromise cybersecurity in order to appease employees who complain about how certain measures slow down business processes. Some workers – particularly those aged 24 and younger – are outright dismissive of cybersecurity measures they believe “get in the way” of their deadlines.
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Nearly half of all office workers under 24 said cybersecurity tools were a “hindrance,” and 31% admitted to having outright bypassed some company security policies to get their work done.
Nearly half of office workers of all ages sadly believe their cybersecurity measures are lagging behind, and the percentage rises to 64% among those under 24. The survey found that 54% of 18-24 year olds were more concerned about their deadlines than the risk of a data breach.
Researchers found that 39% of respondents were not fully aware of their organization's security policies, leading 83% of all IT workers to call remote work a "time bomb" for data breaches.
Ian Pratt, global security manager for personal systems at HP, said that the fact that employees are actively bypassing security should be a concern for every CISO.
IT leaders have had to take some measures to deal with unruly remote workers, including updating security policies and restricting access to certain websites and applications.
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But these practices are causing dissatisfaction among employees, with 37% saying the policies are “often too restrictive.”.
Information source: zdnet.com
