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Survey Shows Computer Users Take Many Risks

A new survey conducted by Cisco Systems and Insight Express, called "Perceptions and Behaviors of Remote Workers & Security Considerations for IT Organizations", has found that around 66% of employees are aware of security risks when they work on company machines from a distance. Also, around 33% surfs the Web, despite knowing about hacking and malware threats.

The survey was conducted among over 1,000 remote workers in 10 countries from every region of the world. Chinese users (78 percent), Australian (75 percent) and from the United Kingdom (72 percent) reported the highest level of security awareness. India (52 percent) and Japan (59 percent) have the lowest level of awareness. The US is a little above average, with a 68 percent awareness rate.

These rates are not surprising at all, since similar results were shown by preceding surveys. Nonetheless, the study shows how contradictive the workers` behavior is, considering their awareness level. Around 50% of the surveyed said they use work computers for personal purchases online. And almost half of the surveyed said they download personal files to their work computers and download work related files to their home computers. 20% allows someone else to use their work computer for Internet access, while in some countries, such as China, the numbers are even higher.