Only 42% surveyed trust employer with their data
By Maurice Garvey
LESS than half of office workers completely trust their employers to securely protect customers’ data, according to a survey of Irish workplaces.
The survey of 500 Irish office workers was conducted by Drimnagh tech solutions company Datapac and Sophos, a global leader in network and endpoint security.
Karen O'Connor, GM Datapac General Manager, recommends continous review of controls.
It discovered only 42 per cent of respondents completely trust their employers with their own personal data, and just 47 per cent trust their employers to securely protect customers’ data.
Some worrying trends with regard to password management practices include 16 per cent of respondents sharing a work password with a friend or family member, 31 per cent sharing their password with a co-worker, and 44 per cent using just three or less passwords to manage their entire digital presence.
Despite the GDPR regulations coming into force in May 2018, the survey also found that 41 per cent of Irish office workers are yet to receive any form of training.
Karen O’Connor, General Manager, Datapac, said: “The appropriateness of an organisation’s password policy and the effectiveness of its implementation are core to risk mitigation within an organisation. Services such as vulnerability testing and threat intelligence monitoring can help identify potential compromises and aid with continuous compliance auditing.”
A significant number of respondents also indicated they have little knowledge of their organisation’s IT security policies and procedures when it comes to protecting data.
Ms O’Connor said the rush to implement GDPR solutions has left a significant number of organisations without the correct training or knowledge.
“For best practice, businesses are encouraged to take a step back – assess the data they process, understand the threats and risks as they pertain to their organisation, and then look to put the relevant controls in place,” she said.
“It is essential also that a mechanism exists to continuously review the effectiveness of those controls over time. This is driving the trend towards managed services that take this continuous approach.”
