A survey carried out by Sophos , a global leader in protecting organisations against viruses, spyware and spam, has revealed that 79 percent of IT professionals believe that employees are putting their companies at risk by failing to act safely online.
Sophos lists the 'sinful seven' online activities at work as follows:-
* Downloading music and movies
* Opening email attachments or clicking on links in unsolicited emails
* Surfing pornographic or other dubious websites
* Running joke programs sent by friends and colleagues
* Installing unauthorised software and web browser plug-ins
* Giving information to unknown parties via phone or email
* Using the same password on different websites and password sharing
"I'm sure that the chance of an employee intentionally bringing malicious spyware and viruses into their company is extraordinarily low," said Rob Forsyth, managing director, Australia and New Zealand, for Sophos.
"In most cases they simply don't realise the risk involved with opening an unsolicited email or surfing inappropriate websites even though their employer may have specific policies forbidding this behaviour."
With cybercrime becoming increasingly more financially motivated, Sophos warns that uneducated employees are jeopardising the bottom lines of their employers and urges organisations to deal with this problem as soon as possible.
"It is the responsibility of management and IT departments to educate their employees on safe internet practices," said Forsyth.
Sophos recommends that companies combine a safe computing policy to ensure employees act safely online to defend against viruses, spyware and spam. Businesses should also secure their desktops and servers with automatically updated protection.