Risky Business???

June 2008

Risky online behavior more likely to happen at small companies. Trend Micro recently reported that in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan, employees in small companies took more online risks while on the company network compared to their counterparts in larger organizations, according to the results of a study that explores corporate computer users’ perceptions of and experiences with security threats. The study, which surveyed usage habits of 1,600 corporate end users in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan, found that certain risky activities such as browsing Web sites unrelated to work, making online purchases, visiting social networking sites, downloading executable files and checking personal Web-based e-mail were more likely to take place in small businesses. For example, 32 percent of small business employees in the U.K. have admitted to downloading executable files that can potentially lead to Trojan or virus attacks and, ultimately, identity and data theft. Checking personal e-mail is the most popular non-work related online activity for German workers -- 70 percent of small-business employees do this at work, compared to 59 percent of those in large companies. In Japan, the study revealed that most of the personal Internet activities stated above were more likely to occur in small businesses. Despite a higher level of risky online behavior taking place, only about 50 percent or fewer end users within small companies said they had an IT department which may explain why spam, phishing and spyware were more commonly reported within these companies compared to larger ones