There’s a new report out by Cisco that sheds light on the increasing importance of connectivity in an already highly connected world, and also raises some disturbing security questions for business and consumers alike. The 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report reveals the internet as an integral part of respondents’ lives, ranking right up there with such basic needs as food and shelter.

To get a proper perspective on the ramifications of this study, it’s important to know the demographic of respondents to the online survey – half (1,441) were college students ages 18-24, while the other half (1,412) were end users who met certain criteria: all were college graduates or higher, employed full-time in a non-IT role in an organization with at least 10 or more employees worldwide. Market research and non-profit organizations were excluded.

In short, the respondents in the survey were representative of the fresh crop of employees organizations are beginning to hire. The prolific findings reveal a picture that many employers may find surprising and, perhaps, a little unsettling:

• 33 percent of all respondents believed that the Internet is a “fundamental resource for the human race – as important as air, water, food and shelter.”
• Seven out of ten end users (employees) admitted to regularly disobeying IT security policies – and one third of them indicated they did not believe they were doing anything wrong
• Three out of five said they do not believe they are responsible for protecting corporate information and devices. Interestingly, respondents in countries like France and Japan, who highly indicated lack of responsibility, also highly indicated their remote access policies were restrictive and they did not believe they would ever be allowed to access corporate information remotely.
• 52 percent of all respondents said that service providers and IT are responsible for securing work devices and data, not them.
• 37 percent of end users indicate they either store a password on the device itself, in a computer document, or on a sticky note near the computer.

It is easy to see where the values and perspectives of these young workers might clash with that of more experienced generations, who are less inclined to view technology with the same fervor. But this is perhaps the least worrisome aspect for global organizations hoping to shoehorn these worker expectations and behaviors into a set of increasingly outdated technology policies and business models. Kroll recently noted in its cyber security trends list for 2012 a whole host of issues – including cloud security, social media as a conduit for social engineering, and mobile device security threats – that will consistently clash with the needs and expectations of young employees entering the workforce. Organizations will be under more pressure than ever to perform a precarious balancing act between security needs, employee expectations, productivity essentials, and regulatory requirements.

How is your organization handling the shifting sands of technology integration and security?

by the Kroll team

Tags: cyber security trends, data security trends, IT security policies

Categories: Data Security Issues.