The survey of more than 100 temporary staff found that 88% of
respondents were able to access documents from the company network
drive, 62% had used someone else's login details to access a work
PC, 52% had used a co-worker's email account, and 81% had unlimited
access to the internet from their work PC.
A worrying level of apathy amongst businesses toward basic data
security processes is leaving them wide open to the risk of
accidental or deliberate data breaches, according to Websense. Only
21% of temporary workers had signed any type of PC or web use
policy.
Among the other findings, 91% were able to print any work
document they liked, and 37% were given access to passwords for
company systems like invoicing, procurement and payroll. Forty-two
percent were able to connect a personal device like an iPod, USB
key or PDA to their work PC.
Websense says that businesses are also failing to manage the use
of social networking sites, which it described as "a haven for
cyber criminals". The survey found that 67% of temporary workers
used social networking sites like Facebook during working hours and
21% accessed peer-to-peer file-sharing sites.
