Alarming Data Revealed About Behavior of Top Management in the Field of Cybersecurity
In a new report by IVANTI, a leading authority on cybersecurity issues, alarming data has been uncovered regarding the behavior of top management in companies involved in information protection.
According to the findings of the study, which involved over 6,500 high-level managers, cybersecurity specialists, and office employees from around the world, nearly half (49%) of top managers have requested the disabling of one or more safety measures within their companies over the past year. This exposes a significant gap between the proclaimed support of cybersecurity and the actual actions of employees.
The 2023 Executive Security SpotLight report has revealed that despite 96% of managers assuring customers and investors of unparalleled cybersecurity within their organizations, many of them prioritize their convenience of access to information and often seek ways to bypass the security system, thereby increasing the risk of cyberattacks.
Among the most concerning findings of the report are:
- Every fifth leader (20%) shares their work password with individuals outside the company.
- More than three quarters of managers (77%) use simple passwords, such as birth dates or names of pets.
- Leaders are three times more likely than ordinary employees to provide unauthorized users, such as friends, family, and external freelancers, with access to their work devices.
- A third of managers (33%) admit to unauthorized access to work files and data, while nearly two-thirds indicate that these files/data can be edited.
In addition, managers are twice as likely as ordinary employees to describe their most recent interaction with the IT security service as “awkward” or “embarrassing,” leading them to seek support from unverified external sources four times more often.
Daniel Spicer, Security Director at IV