UK Businesses Blind to the Data Breach Risks of Temporary Staff

Research released today by Websense has revealed that temporary workers across the UK are unwittingly exposing businesses of all sizes to information security breaches.

In the Information Open Access survey of more than 100 temporary staff, the findings indicate that organisations may be unnecessarily putting their data at risk by granting temporary staff access to confidential information at the same levels as permanent employees.  

The survey highlights that 87.7% of respondents were able to access documents from the company network drive, 52% had used a co-worker's e-mail account and 80.7% 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 - only 21.1% of temporary workers had signed any type of PC or Web use policy

As businesses gear up for the busy Christmas period, the UK's 3.1% (or 770,000) temporary staff will balloon to nearly 900,000.

However, businesses are evidently ill-prepared for the security risk this introduces. The survey identifies three key issues propagating this security risk:

1. INFORMATION LEAKAGE
The most prominent theme to emerge from the survey results shows that temporary workers are exposing businesses to potentially large-scale information leakage where confidential data is allowed out of the organisation, either by mistake or through malicious intent. Key findings include:

87.7% of respondents were able to access documents from the company network drive or electronic folders that permanent staff use on a day to day basis
62.4% had used someone else's login details to access a work PC
57.5% admitted sending work documents to the wrong person
91.2% were able to print any work document they liked
36.8% were given access to passwords for company systems (i.e. invoicing, procurement, payroll)
52% used someone else's e-mail account or a general company e-mail address
42.1% were able to connect a personal device (iPod, USB key, PDA) to their work PC