Singaporeans' risky use of Net at work
Workers in Singapore apparently have no qualms about logging on to their Internet banking accounts at work, and would blame their boss if their identity was stolen following a breach on their machine, according to a SurfControl survey.
Results from a recent survey released Tuesday by the Internet security company revealed that Singapore respondents were more inclined to carry out Internet banking activities compared to their Dutch counterparts.
Singapore topped the list of countries surveyed with 71 percent indicating that they logged into their bank accounts at their workplace, while Australian workers trailed closely at 63 percent. Only 46 percent of Dutch respondents accessed their bank accounts at the office.
The SurfControl study, titled Trust and Risk in the Workplace Study, surveyed 1,058 respondents from five countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, The Netherlands and Singapore. The survey was conducted by the School of Psychology at Queen's University Belfast, and studied several risk activity categories including Internet banking.
The SurfControl study found that 53 percent of respondents would blame their boss if a breach occurred on their machine and their identity was stolen.
"Almost two-thirds of our sample--64 percent--would blame their employer if confidential data was stolen from their work computers," said Dr. Monica Whitty who conducted the survey. "Given [that] security breaches and careless mistakes can lead to the loss or theft of confidential information, employers should be extra cautious when it comes to protecting confidential data."
The study found that Singaporean workers, whether using desktop or notebook computers, had the highest risk profile in most of the categories surveyed. Risky behaviors included sending of confidential information via e-mail and playing computer games online or from a burnt CD.
According to the survey, 86 percent of Singapore respondents used USB keys, while 35 percent and 33 percent downloaded music and played online games, respectively. Singaporeans were also No.1 in the use of instant messaging at 67 percent--ahead of workers in The Netherlands by a margin of 34 percent.
According to SurfControl, each risk activity surveyed has "the potential to introduce unwanted content into the network, compromise legal liability or expose confidential information".
"Businesses can't afford to think that out of sight is out of mind," Richard Cullen, chairman of SurfControl's global Technology Strategy Council, said in a statement. He added that the research highlighted the importance of "applying a consistent security strategy across all employees, no matter where or how they accessed the corporate network".
According to SurfControl, the first step for organizations is to ensure the corporate usage policy is current and relevant to both workers using the notebook and the desktop, and that employees need to understand the importance of the guidelines that are in place.
By layering security solutions across multiple network entry points, organizations can deflect malicious and unwanted content while also exercising granular control of employee usage policies, the security vendor added.