New research has discovered a disconnect between employees’ growing concern over the security of their personal information and their attitudes toward data security practices in the workplace.
The global study of 1,000 office workers in large organisations found that 87% of employees would react negatively if a company breached their personal information. Yet these same employees are exposing their employers to the same data breaches through negligence and poor password hygiene.
The survey results revealed an ongoing challenge for IT and security professionals, with 26% of employees admitted to uploading sensitive information to cloud apps with the specific intent to share that data outside the company.
Poor password hygiene continues to plague enterprises. The majority of respondents (63%) admitted to using a single password among applications, and 28% share passwords with their co-workers.
>See also: UK workers more willing to secure documents at home than at work
Employees also don’t assume responsibility for protecting the integrity of corporate security processes. Nearly one in five employees said they’d sell their passwords to an outsider. Of those who would sell their passwords, 56% would do so for less than £700.
Organisations are struggling to keep up. One in three employees admitted to purchasing a SaaS application without IT’s knowledge. Alarmingly, more than 39% of respondents reported having access to a variety of corporate accounts after leaving their last job.
“This year’s Market Pulse Survey shines a light on the significant disconnect between how employees view their personal information and that of their employer, which could also include personal information of customers,” said Kevin Cunningham, president and founder of SailPoint, which commissioned the research.