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Employees 'happy to talk about company secrets'

Published On 26 March 2007 at 15:53:51

UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) risk losing trade secrets to rivals because employees are not careful about keeping company data secure, new research reveals.

According to Websense, a global leader in content security, one in twelve employees in the UK say they would happily share confidential company information with a friend who worked at a rival business.

The survey reveals the extent which SMEs need to worry about how well their employees protect data, as 10 per cent admit to accidentally sending out sensitive company information via email.

Similarly, 46 per cent say they let friends or relatives use company laptops, which often have private data stored on them.

Worryingly, 31 per cent of employees say they have tried to guess their boss' password and 21 per cent confessed to trying to access protected company files.

"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 for western Europe at Websense.

"Even if these actions are completely innocent, the implications are huge for companies leaving their data security to chance."

A recent report suggested that UK SMEs were set to spend $2.2 billion on IT security and storage solutions in 2007, an increase of 15 per cent compared to the previous year.

 

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