UK employees are putting their companies at risk of cyber attacks when they use public Wi-Fi on holiday.
They don’t check the security of a public Wi-Fi network even though their employer has informed them about the potential risks, according to research.
A study found that that 77% of UK workers usually take their work devices with them on holiday, with 72% choosing to spend up to one or two hours per day for work purposes.
The research revealed that despite 69% admitting that their employer had informed them about the potential risks associated with BYOD, 60% said they did not check the security of a Wi-Fi network before connecting to it on holiday.
Trainees were the worst offenders with 75% not checking remote networks, while 60% of directors and mid-managers admitted the same.
Sean Newman, field product manager at Cisco, said: "While employees generally do not set out to deliberately pose an IT security risk to their employer, our study shows that the majority of workers are likely to be more concerned about getting online than strictly following the IT security policy.
"As such, security systems have to be designed to take on board the evolving work life patterns of the modern workforce."
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He added: "In the era of increased mobility of employees, they need to ensure they have full visibility across their network in order to spot unusual activities of behaviour. Cyber criminals are well resourced and professional and recognise that employees are often a company’s weakest link so target them to gain access to the corporate network.
The study of 500 UK employees was carried out by independent research firm Opinion Matters in collaboration with Cisco.
