Fortinet Study Uncovers More Troubling BYOD Data from GenY Workers
Fortinet Study Uncovers More Troubling BYOD Data from GenY Workers by UCStrategies Staff
Fortinet has released the results of its global study showing that Generation Y employees are increasingly becoming more predisposed to violating corporate policies regarding personal device usage in the workplace. Compared to a similar Fortinet survey last year, a 42 percent jump in the willingness to breach corporate device usage rules was discovered among Gen Y workers.
Market research firm Vision Critical was commissioned by Fortinet to perform the survey of 3,200 university-graduate-level individuals in full-time employment. Respondents aged 21 to 32 years were polled. They own a smartphone, tablet, or laptop and are based in any of the following countries: Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, UK, and the U.S.
Conducted in October 2013, Fortinet’s research findings showed that Generation Y workers are becoming more prone to going against company policies regarding the use of personal devices, personal cloud storage systems, and emerging technologies like connected cars, Google Glass, and smart watches. Consequently, the growing lack of disregard for BYOD regulations made the employees likelier targets for cybercrimes.
The practice of storing corporate data on personal cloud accounts has also become widespread, according to the Fortinet study. 36 percent of the respondents said that they use personal cloud storage accounts like DropBox for work purposes and maintained that they would not follow any rules that were to be established to obstruct it.
51 percent of respondents said that they would disobey any corporate policy banning the use of personal devices at work or for work purposes.
In addition, 48 percent of respondents said that they would not comply should there be corporate policies prohibiting the use of Google Glass and smart watches in the workplace, while 14 percent said that they would not notify their employer if a personal device they used for work purposes ended up becoming compromised.
“This year's research reveals the issues faced by organizations when attempting to enforce policies around BYOD, cloud application usage and soon the adoption of new connected technologies,” said John Maddison, vice president of marketing for Fortinet. “The study highlights the greater challenge IT managers face when it comes to knowing where corporate data resides and how it is being accessed. There is now more than ever a requirement for security intelligence to be implemented at the network level in order to enable control of user activity based on devices, applications being used and locations.”
Madison pointed out that 88 percent of the respondents acknowledge their obligation to understand the security risks involved when they use their personal devices. He also lamented the growing policy breach among Generation Y workers and the numerous instances of them being victimized by cybercriminals. “Educating employees on the threat landscape and its possible impact is another key aspect for ensuring an organization's IT security,” concluded Madison.
It can be remembered that in July 2013, an Aruba Networks study showed that 11 percent of workers in the U.S., 13 percent in Europe, and 26 percent in the Middle East would not tell their employers that their personal devices were compromised, even when company data had been leaked. The study also revealed that 36 percent of U.S. workers polled, 40 percent in Europe, and 41 percent in the Middle East would not report leaked company data right away. (KOM) Link. Link.