IT managers fear job loss after data breach

The survey, conducted by market research firm StollzNow and commissioned by Websense, found that 56 percent out of 159 IT managers believed data leakage caused by employees could put their job at risk.

52 percent deemed the introduction of a virus as likely grounds for a dismissal followed by 47 percent who found accessing inappropriate material is also a trigger.

Agreeing with the outcome, Joel Camissar ANZ country manager for Websense said IT managers are currently taking the fall for security breaches blaming inefficient education at the C-level management.

“It’s a constant challenge, the CISO doesn’t have a seat on the board therefore the board is not educated about security.”

James Turner analyst at IBRS said the blame definitely should not be placed on IT management, instead the business owner should bear the burden.

Furthermore, according to the survey, employees also believed data leakage is the most likely activity to force them out of a job. 74 percent of 158 employees across various sized companies said data leakage could result in dismissal; 73 percent blamed viewing adult content.

63 percent of employees pointed to the introduction of a virus as a likely cause of employee job loss, followed by downloading multimedia at 20 percent, playing games at 18 percent and personal shopping at nine percent.

However, despite the overwhelming concern for data leakage, IT managers are almost exclusively focused on mitigating external threats including phishing, spyware and IM.

“It makes a lot of sense for organisations to ensure their external defences are secure, but we also urge managers to consider threat from within and particularly the way sensitive information can easily slip out side the walls,” said Camissar.