IT security admins believe UK employees have little or no awareness of data protection or corporate policies where they work, according to a survey by security firm Check Point and research house the Ponemon Institute.
The survey, called Understanding Security Complexity in 21st Century IT Environments, quizzed 450 UK IT security administrators about a number of trends they are seeing in the security space.
Over half (53%) of the respondents said their employees have little or no awareness of data protection or corporate policies in place. An individual approach to policies such as identity awareness, rather than a company-wide approach, was listed by 52% as one potential solution to this issue.
Improved education and awareness were also suggested.
When asked to list the most significant security challenge facing their business, 35% of respondents said managing complex security environments was top, followed by or Government compliance mandates (22%), preventing data loss by employees (20%) and enforcing security policies (13%).
"Companies are constantly facing new and costly security risks from both internal and external sources that can jeopardise the business. Our research has shown that one cyber-attack can range anywhere from $237,000 to $52m," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder, Ponemon Institute.
"However, employees can play a big role in being a first line of defence, helping their company enforce stronger security measures and promoting more user awareness within the organisation," he concluded.
"To improve security in this day and age, organisations need to get a better understanding of their current environments and prioritise their short and long term initiatives," said Nick Lowe, Head of Western Europe Sales at Check Point. "By educating end-users and enforcing security policies with a holistic view of the organisation, companies can minimise the complexities associated with security and compliance."
