British Employees don’t Store Data in Shared Computer Network

More than 50% of the total British staff stores job-related files like electronic messages and documents in other places instead of a shared network of computers, presenting major security risks.

A report by the software development company Tower Software, that provides enterprise content management, discovered that 55% of workers were responsible for these lapses. About 49% of computer users save business files in different places, and 21% utilize a memory stick.

Some 14% of workers said that they stored business data on the hard drive of their laptops, and 9% confessed that they saved job-related data on their own private gadgets, discovered a survey conducted by Dynamic Market for Tower Software.

Misplaced and burgled laptop computers have been fundamental to a series of latest company data security violations. In October 2007, Customs and HM Revenue became the most prestigious firm to lose client data following the stealing of a laptop from the car of an employee.

The study also observed that 8% of employees were keeping job-related files on handy disk drives and 7% on handheld devices like personal organizers or smartphones.

Moreover, one percent of responders hired by the 300 British organizations participating in the study were uncertain about the exact sites where they had saved their job-related files.

According to Paul Brenchley, Vice President, Tower Software, EMEA, in spite of the spectacular rise in the operation and quality of handheld devices, it is astonishing to witness such high figures. It looks as though advices regarding company security, cooperation and information regulation are still not clear to some workers, as reported by COMPUTERWORLDUK on November 13, 2007.

The study lays bare disturbing facts for firms, concluding that British corporate travelers lose approximately 8,500 handheld devices annually in the nation's airports.

The utilization of memory sticks, for instance, causes several companies to violate security contracts that ban the gadgets inside corporate offices or some other site with a business IP address.

He appended that bad storage activities were not just a regulatory compliance threat, but also affects everyday operations, annoying fellow workers, losing clients and running a risk of negative publicity.

Related article: British Telecommunications Introduces New anti-spam System

» SPAMfighter News - 11/23/2007