Users are willing to take extreme measures to get Internet access
The findings reveal startling attitudes toward IT policies and growing security threats posed by the next generation of employees entering the workforce a demographic that grew up with the Web and has an increasingly on-demand lifestyle that mixes personal and business activity in the workplace.
Seven out of ten young employees often ignore IT policies, and in is a victim of identity theft before the age of 30, according to a worldwide study from Cisco.
The Cisco Connected World Expertise Document is an international study that examines the next generation of workers’ demands and behavior involving network access, mobile tool freedom, social media, and work lifestyles.
The findings are key in explaining how this next-generation workforce’s behavior heightens personal and corporate risk amid a complex threat landscape, a correlation that is spotlighted in more depth in the Cisco 2011 Annual Security Document, also issued today.
The latest findings from the Cisco Connected World Expertise Document reveal growing concerns for employers. The desire for on-demand access to knowledge is so ingrained in the incoming generation of employees that lots of young professionals take extreme measures to access the Web, even if it compromises their company or their own security. Such behavior includes secretly using neighbors’ wireless connections, sitting in front of businesses to access free Wi-Fi networks, and borrowing other people’s devices without supervision.
Thinking about that at least of every employees (36%) responded negatively when asked in the event that they respect their IT departments, balancing IT policyowner compliance with young employees’ desires for more flexible access to social media, devices, and remote access is testing the limits of traditional corporate cultures.
Simultaneously, these worker demands are placing greater pressure on recruiters, hiring managers, IT departments, and corporate cultures to permit more flexibility in the hope the next wave of talent can provide an edge over competitors.
Key findings:Perhaps as a direct result of loosening privacy boundaries, about in college students (24%) and employees (23%) experiences identity theft before the age of 30. When applied to a broader pool of people, of college students said they know of friends or relatives members who have experienced identity theft. The following findings provide insight in to the frequency of identity theft among this generation. in (33%) college students globally does not mind sharing personal knowledge online, believes privacy boundaries are loosening, or does not think about privacy, providing foreshadowing for how the next generation of the global workforce will address knowledge online perhaps for business as well as personal activities.
Of those who were aware of IT policies, seven of every ten (70%) employees worldwide admitted to breaking policyowner with varying regularity. Among lots of reasons, the most common was the belief that employees were not doing anything wrong (33%). in (22%) cited the necessity to access unauthorized programs and applications to get their job done, while 19% admitted the policies are not enforced. Some (18%) said they don’t have time to think about policies when they are working, and others either said adhering to the policies is not convenient (16%), they forget to do so (15%), or their bosses are not watching them (14%).
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