UK firms in visual data theft spike

Many employees are unaware of who is looking over their shoulder, organisation claims

More than half of employees are not taking enough precautions to stop potential thieves reading sensitive data over their shoulder, a survey has claimed.

The research, commissioned by Secure, the European Association for Visual Data Security, claims that despite spending nearly £40bn a year on protecting data from hackers and other cyber threats, UK firms are not in control when employees are using company laptops in public places such as coffee shops, trains and planes; leaving them vulnerable to theft and abuse.

Its results reveal that 71 per cent of employees have been able to see or read what someone is working on over their shoulder, but 53 per cent of those questioned do not always take precautions to protect the private, confidential and sensitive information they are working on from being overlooked.

In addition, according to a white paper released by Secure, while 90 per cent of IT security professionals were aware of the threat posed by a visual data security breach, 82 per cent had little or no confidence that their organisation’s employees take steps to protect their data being viewed while working in a public environment.

Brian Honan, author of the Secure white paper, said: “With the frequency and innovative nature of data attacks rising, organisations must ensure that the defences they have in place protect against all potential data breaches and not just some. All organisations have an obligation to both their employees and customers to be as secure as they possibly can be.”