While employees indicate that surfing the Internet at work is as important as their morning coffee, the survey also revealed a “startling” discrepancy between what employees actually admit to doing versus IT managers’ perception of what is actually occurring in their corporate networks.
For example, employees only admit to spending two-hours per week surfing the Web for personal reasons, but IT managers believe that number to be more than six-hours a week. Similarly, while only two-percent of employees admitted to accessing online hacking tools at work, one-third of IT managers said an employee has launched a hacking tool within their network.
The survey also found many IT managers are either unaware of, or do not fully understand the risks presented by new emerging Internet threats such as spyware, unsanctioned instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing and Web-based viruses such as MyDoom. Nearly 95% of IT managers said they are confident their company’s current antivirus software is able to stop viruses from attacking the company’s network, yet two-thirds reported their organizations were infected by a Web-based virus.
The Web@Work study, which was conducted by Harris Interactive in March, polled 500 employees and 350 IT managers of organizations with at least 100 employees. The survey looked at participant’s Web and software application usage in the workplace. Additional results include: