A third of IT staff with administration access to corporate systems admit to snooping around privileged information such as HR records, redundancy lists, customer databases and M&A plans, according to a survey by security vendor Cyber-Ark.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) say they can confidently bypass controls designed to protect this data. That figure has risen 2% compared with last year.

There was a sharper increase in the number of administrators who said they would take information with them if they were fired.

Six times as many admins said they would take undisclosed financial reports or merger plans compared with last year, while four times as many said they would take the CEO’s passwords and R&D plans.