A survey suggests that Parisians are more likely to take corporate data than their UK counterparts according to an IT security product firm. Imperva’s ‘Insider Threat Survey,’ a repeat of a street survey conducted in the UK two years ago
While the Parisian respondents prefer to use a USB stick (23pc) to take the information away with them, in London this remains about the same but with smart phones the favoured method (41pc).
When asked if they’d ever accessed company information at work which is not relevant to their role, 66pc of Parisian respondents admitted they had, compared to 41pc of London respondents. In both countries, the highest underlying factor that facilitates this activity is unrestricted access to files containing sensitive information (each scoring 51pc).
Over half of Parisian respondents stated they knew of someone who had taken data – slightly lower in London at 47pc. However, while no respondent in Paris claimed the information was stolen for profit, in London 4pc said the information had been taken to ‘sell-on.’
A worrying discovery in this survey is that information is finding its way into the hands of competitors with both countries roughly equally affected, 60 per cent in Paris, 59pc in London. When asked how this had occurred, an ex-employee was cited as the main culprit (38pc in Paris, 62pc in London), although a further 54pc in London blamed the leak on outsourcers. In both cities, respondents indicated that the customer database was targeted, 49pc in France, 57pc in UK.
Imperva CTO Amichai Shulman said: “Rogue employees should be a major concern across many enterprises. This survey shows that both countries still have a long way to go to address the insider threat. The fact that a significant percentage of employees surveyed not only want to, but actually can, read confidential material is a stark warning that it’s time to put in place stronger security measures.”
When looking at other contrasting differences between the people in each city, highlights include:
While respondents in Paris prefer to check out salary details (26 per cent versus 11) and employee records (21 per cent versus 6pc), those in London prefer customer records (39 per cent versus 25pc) and strategic documents (31 per cent versus 18pc)
Respondents in Paris appear more inept, with 17pc citing human error for the reason data finds its way into the hands of competitors, compared to 8pc for respondents in London.
Notes
Surveyed 500 people in London, and 484 in Paris, from various business districts during October 2012.
