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The risk of corporate networks being hijacked by hackers or employees sharing corporate devices with non-employees remains a considerable challenge for worldwide corporate security. While two out of three teleworkers said they were aware of the risk, many admitted that they continued to engage in dangerous activities such as sharing work computes with non-employees, opening unknown emails and piggybacking on a neighbors’ wireless connection.

Jeff Platon, vice president of security solutions marketing at Cisco, said, “To highlight the U.S. example, the unsafe behavior of 11 remote workers in a company of 100 can bring down a network or compromise corporate information and personal identities.”

From an article in CIO Today, a global study of 1,000 workers in 10 countries commissioned by Cisco found that remote workers often endangered network security because of a false sense of awareness.

One in five remote workers allowed friends, family, or other non-employees to use a corporate computer to access the Internet. While the global average was 11 percent, Germany (15 percent) and the US (12 percent) joined China, Italy, and Brazil in surpassing the average.

25 percent of remote workers admitted to opening unknown emails on work computers. Said Jeff Platon, "It only takes one security breach. For large enterprises with tens of thousands of workers, especially those with global workforces and differing business cultures, the potential risk is even more challenging."

Posted by pschooff in Better Protection • Cisco Systems • Small Medium Enterprise |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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