Busy Sales Employees Cause Security Breach

Junior sales personnel in both the U.K. and U.S. companies are the most probable employees causing security breaches, as per a study conducted in those countries.

The research by MessageLabs revealed that tech-savvy employees of ages 26-35, who regularly use e-mail, instant messaging, VoIP and also the Web tend to be negligent of the potential risks causing serious danger to organizations.

According to the Internet security company, sales personnel were too occupied to bother about taking protective measures against fraud, both for themselves and the companies they belong to.

The best assets of a business can also be its worst threats as those playing most offensively are usually the ones generating the best revenues, said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst at MessageLabs in his company press release. Businesswire published it on March 29, 2007. However, eliminating the culprits is not an appropriate solution. Rather the removal of the potential of being a threat is the right option, added Sunner.

The report said the middle management officers within the age 26-35 were the most secure workforces because they operated from inside the technology division.

However, the blame partly lies on companies for not ensuring their staff's cautious approach. The survey found that 40% of businesses failed to train their staff on security.

The small businesses today need to watch out for both internal and external security threats. With nearly 50% of all companies not implementing adequate training on IT security and with constant evolution of the threat landscape, the effort to safeguard one's business against online dangers is quite arduous, said Sunner.

The study further found that three quarters of those it surveyed did not think spam would subside as a problem.

Among other statistics, 53% of small-size enterprises have placed the right security procedures against 69%, which haven't. Of a little more than one third of the companies surveyed, 21% and 41% in the U.K. and U.S. respectively were sure their employees would not allow security breach.

Vanson Bourne conducted the research on the basis of 942 interviews with those who made IT decisions. The online interviews took place during November-December 2006.

Related article: Bugs Swell In Browsers in 2006

» SPAMfighter News - 4/7/2007