Employees care little for corporate data

Employees have a careless and even negligent attitude to corporate data and infrastructure, finds a survey from online backup service provider Databarracks.

The survey of more than 100 UK office workers found that 84 percent of workers felt they could not do their job for more than half a day if they lost access to corporate data. Meanwhile, 43 percent of respondents said they could not cope for any period without access.

Yet despite this obvious high dependency on access to corporate data, many staff have an apathetic attitude to their corporate infrastructure. More than half (57 percent) said they had at some point lost an office laptop, Blackberry or USB stick. It seems that the favourite places to lose these devices are in the pub, bar or restaurant.

Nearly two thirds (63 percent) of respondents have accidentally deleted data on corporate networks, whilst 69 percent admitted to saving more than 10 important work files on their PCs alone (i.e. no backups), which could cause disruption if that for example the equipment was stolen or damaged.

In an age where there is little loyalty in the business environment , either from the company to staff (or vice versa), it is perhaps no surprise then that nearly three quarters (77 percent) of respondents said they would save their mobile phone first, over their work PC, if both were on fire.

Additionally, 77 percent said they stored personal content on their office network or PC, a trend that Databarracks feels increases the risk of malware and puts strain on corporate resources.

And it seems that the green message is just not getting through to a segment of staff either, with 24 percent stating they never switched off their computer at the end of the day. Only 23 percent said they sometimes closed down.

More than half (55 percent) also feel that their company is ill prepared for environmental disasters, with 55 percent feeling their company should plan better for floods etc. This survey is not the first to point out how ill-prepared some IT departments are for natural disasters.

"This research paints a frightening picture for UK organisations," said Peter Groucutt, MD of Databarracks. "Almost every business, irrelevant of sector, is reliant on the information stored on its IT network to manage day-to-day operations."

"This dependence makes it critical for organisations and their employees to protect their network information, yet our survey shows carelessness and even negligence among many respondents, who have a haphazard view of how corporate data should be handled," he added.

It is perhaps hardly surprising then that the online backup provider advises that "more organisations have to start seriously considering secure online backup to protect themselves from unforeseen events."