Employees can be 'weak link' in cyber security - survey

A new survey has found that two out of every five employees in Ireland have experienced phishing, hacking, cyber fraud or other cyber attacks. The research, carried out by Amarach on behalf of Microsoft, also revealed employees can often be the weak link, with a fifth admitting they write down their passwords. Some 44% say they recycle the same password across multiple applications and just 16% of employees have updated their passwords in the last 12 months. The poll also found that a third have plugged a non-work USB drive or data storage device into their work machine, posing a possible intellectual property loss or theft risk. According to Microsoft, 81% of major data breaches last year arose from this practice, underlining the dangers. A further risk is posed by employees working from home using their home device for work purposes, with half of those questioned acknowledging they prefer to do this rather than use their work device.