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Veritas Technologies unveiled findings showing that more employees are saving and disseminating work using unsafe platforms.
Veritas Technologies last week unveiled new findings demonstrating the risk of instant messaging and business platforms for business data sharing in its Hidden Threat of Business Collaboration Report.
The findings showed that 66 per cent of tested employees shared classified information such as company or client data using unverified or compromised platforms. The survey was undertaken across 1,000 Australian office workers, as part of a global poll of 12,500 people. Veritas outlines that this will compromise data regulations, with 53 per cent of employees saving data over instant messaging applications.
Of the classified information shared, 15 per cent of the information was client data, 10 per cent related to HR, 12 per cent related to contracts, product R&D and COVID testing, respectively.
Only a third of respondents outlined that they did not use unverified information sharing platforms to save or send classified data.
The survey found that this risk taking behaviour increased since the beginning of COVID, with more employees working remotely and using an array of platforms to remain in contact with one another. In fact, some 21 per cent of those surveyed recorded that they spend in excess of half of their week using potentially hazardous platforms.
Director of strategy and architecture at Veritas Technologies, Geoffrey Coley, warned companies against misusing unsafe platforms.
“For many Australians, our entire way of work has been reset since the start of 2020. Companies are rushing to bolster their data protection ways of working to include the platforms where their business is actually being conducted,” he said.
Coley continued, "Getting employees to use ‘approved’ methods of communication and collaboration tools is an uphill battle. Instead, our message is simple: don’t fight it – fix it.
“Business data is sprawled across different locations. Deals are being done, orders are being processed, and sensitive personnel information is being shared, all through video-conferencing and messaging platforms. It’s now critical for companies to include this rapidly growing volume of data in their protection and compliance envelope. If they don't, the implications could be huge."
Liam Garman is the editor of leading Australian security and defence publications Cyber Daily and Defence Connect.
Liam began his career as a speech writer at New South Wales Parliament before working for world leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra, with a thesis on postmodernism and disinformation operations.
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