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One in Four UK Workers Maliciously Leaks Business Data Via Email, Study Says (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

From a report: New research into insider threats reveals that 24 percent of UK employees have deliberately shared confidential business information outside their company. The study from privacy and risk management specialist Egress Software Technologies also shows that almost half (46 percent) of respondents say they have received a panicked email recall request, which is not surprising given more than a third (37 percent) say they don't always check emails before sending them. The survey of 2,000 UK workers who regularly use email as part of their jobs shows the biggest human factor in sending emails in error is listed as 'rushing' (68 percent). However alcohol also plays a part in eight percent of all wrongly sent emails -- where are these people working!? Autofill technology, meanwhile, caused almost half (42 percent) to select the wrong recipient in the list.

16 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. says the guy with something to sell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yup, I'm sure the company who sells software to monitor email systems will agree, your email needs our software!

    Lets make up some funny stats to sell it!

    1. Re:says the guy with something to sell by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Neat and well groomed hair sets you apart from the crowd. That's what my barber says, anyway.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:says the guy with something to sell by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      In that case, your testosterone-filled body can safely ignore such "Beta News" sites.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:says the guy with something to sell by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Might I interest you in same wax?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Ad by Headw1nd · · Score: 5, Informative

    First, this is an ad, not a news article.

    Secondly, there is nothing to suggest the use of the word "malicious". If I tell my grandma how much we charge a client, it's sharing confidential business information, but I'm not doing it to undercut my company, I'm doing it to impress her. I'm not even sure who I would maliciously share business information with if I wanted to, nobody would care enough to listen.

    1. Re:Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Let's see if it gets play in the news media anyway...

    2. Re:Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I'll tell you why.

      1) Employers in the UK and derivative countries treat their employees like shit.
      2) Employees in the UK and derivative countries have far greater protection against being terminated (compared to the US), this leads people to not give a shit either, because their boss is a jerk.
      3) My experience of employers in the US is they tend to look after and reward people who do well, bosses are not self appointed asshats, and as an employee its in your best interests to not f**kup, because you can be terminated on the spot in most states. Sounds bad right, wrong, it weeds out the bad employees pretty quickly.

    3. Re: Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your experience with the US is wrong. Bosses are self appointed asshats, good performers are not rewarded more than they are, and loyalty to employees does not exist.

      Most people who can get away with it would be well advised to remember those things in deciding whether or not to screw over their employer for profit. However, nothing illegal. If an employee breaks the law relative to an employer they're screwed. The opposite is a joke--employers break the law and screw over employees constantly.

    4. Re:Ad by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      ... and if you were up to shenanigans would you do it via something that leaves a trace and that the BOFH is probably snooping on?

      Entire "article" is retarded.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. Maliciously? by dysmal · · Score: 2

    Not sure if that's the right word for this.

    Maliciously = with intent to do harm

    Intentionally? Yes.

  4. Misrepresentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They're conflating deliberate with malicious, when the two aren't necessarily the same.

  5. Deliberate !== Malicious by tomxor · · Score: 1

    The author should really consider Hanlon's razor. The article minces "deliberate" and "malicious" as if they are synonyms, someone is far more likely to "deliberately" leak information without realising it could be used against the company they work for.

  6. 24% workers could be fired by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    24% of workers confess an action that could get them fired. People may be evil, but they have room to improve.

  7. alcohol - where are these people working!? by coofercat · · Score: 1

    These people are adults, and so they work in an adult company. Not a kindergarten that happens to pay the children for the work they do, mollycoddled by the state and their employer.

    If someone wants to have a pint at lunch time, and is fit to do their job in the afternoon, then why shouldn't they be able to do so? If they go on to send the Paradise Papers out in the mail that afternoon, then they'll be dealt with for that act - if they were 'under the influence' and "the drink made them do it" then they should have thought about that before drinking it in the first place.

    I think a great number of people are confused as to where "the land of the free" actually is.

    1. Re:alcohol - where are these people working!? by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      Bull-fucking-shit. I don't believe that 24% of UK workers even have ACCESS to meaningful business data.

    2. Re:alcohol - where are these people working!? by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      Sorry, my comment was not meant to be a reply to yours. Bad click from arthritis fingers.