UK not a frontrunner in staff cyber security awareness

Employees in the UK are not among the most vigilant when it comes to safeguarding their devices and data.

A recent study revealed that the UK ranked ninth in the Barclays’ Digital Development Index, behind such countries as South Africa, China, and Brazil.

Both individuals and businesses are in danger of falling foul to a data breach, claimed Barclays, with only 13% employing password-generating programs, compared to 32% in India and China. Further, less than half (41%) were found to change significant passwords periodically, and most people store payment details on frequently visited websites.

Corporate boardrooms around the world have been paying more attention to cyber security, with an increasing number of directors in fear of being the next victim of cyber crime. Among the consequences they have expressed concern over are losing intellectual property or customer data.

The war on cyber crime is not just against hackers though; complacency among staff has also been cited as a major obstacle. These statistics suggest that employees either fail to understand the role they have with regards to cyber security systems, or they choose not to take initiative.
It is not just those in cyber security jobs who need to be aware of protecting data in 2017, but that message appears to be lost on many. Chris Dye, VP of UK cyber security firm Glaswell Solutions, said:

“Productivity and convenience are put above security. The feeling is that people need to be connected all the time, so companies open up access to [personal] devices.

“What people will open and how they think of documents from both known and unknown sources is absolutely alarming”.