Staff birthdays more important than security - report

Businesses spend more time updating employees on staff birthdays and new starters than security protocols

Employees are more likely to be updated on staff birthdays, new starters and the availability of free food than about IT security, a new survey has found.

According to the Centrify survey, which questioned 400 IT decision makers from the UK and US, staff are kept better informed of general office news than they are of security protocols and updates.

More than a third (37 per cent) of those asked said they hear more about staff starting and departing than they do about IT security, and a fifth said they are more likely to hear about free food left over from meetings than security updates. Some 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively said staff holidays and kitchen rules are communicated more often than security news.

Centrify's EMEA chief technology officer, Barry Scott, said the survey highlights a worrying attitude to security among businesses.

"Given the very high profile of data security breaches today, it is surprising that organisations are apparently not taking every opportunity possible to raise the profile of security internally and improve security protocols," he said.

"As well as from the outside, many security breaches are caused by insider threats, either intentionally by staff or ex-employees taking revenge on their employer or for other malicious reasons, or unintentionally by employees clicking on a link from a potential attacker using social engineering techniques. Regardless of the source, companies should be making every effort to educate users and raise awareness of potential threats and to improve their security training and posture."