Censuswide survey consultants asked the opinion of 200 UK business decision makers, on behalf of privileged access management solutions provider, Centrify - in order to gather information for a new report regarding cyber security.

According to this report, since the Covid-19 pandemic began, almost four in ten businesses have fired someone over their involvement in a breach of security protocol. This is despite 65 per cent of organisations making considerable changes to their cyber security policy, in response to the pandemic.

Over half - 58 per cent - of companies are of the opinion that employees are more likely to attempt to get round the security practices when working from home.  Because of this, 57 per cent of decision makers are putting more measures in place to validate staff.  Biometric data checks - such as fingerprint and facial recognition technology - are being introduced to ensure that the correct person is accessing the right files, applications and accounts.  This has proved necessary as, due to businesses moving into digital channels en-masse, there have been a rising number of incidents where cybercriminals have been involved.    

In addition, more than half - 55 per cent - of businesses have already banned, or plan to ban, staff from using personal devices to work from home.

Andy Heather - Vice President, Centrify - said:

“With more people than ever working from home and left to their own devices, it’s inevitable that some will find security work ‘arounds’, such as using personal laptops and not changing passwords, in order to maximise productivity. It’s also possible that the changes in security procedures are not being communicated well to employees, and many are practicing unsafe internet usage without even realising.

The reality is the weakest link in any organisation continues to be the human element. Combating this issue starts from the top. CIOs and business decision makers must implement strict and transparent, cloud enabled and identity-centric security solutions. This will allow companies to quickly and safely deploy scalable security privileged access management measures, which make it impossible for an employee to access company networks, applications and data, unless they are following correct procedures.”