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Home workers admit broadband hijack hi-jinks
But is their lack of online vigilance exposing companies to risk?

By Nick Heath

Published: Wednesday 06 February 2008

Companies are being exposed to risk online by bad behaviour among home workers - from hi-jacking the neighbour's wi-fi to opening unsafe emails.

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The survey of more than 2,000 remote workers and IT managers worldwide, sponsored by Cisco, uncovered a lack of discipline and vigilance among home workers on the internet.

In the UK there is a growing trend for home workers to open unknown or suspicious looking emails - with 48 per cent admitting to doing so, 11 per cent confessing to hi-jacking their neighbour's wi-fi and 22 per cent lending work computers to non-employees.

According to the survey over half of managers reckon their remote workers are becoming less diligent when it comes to security awareness, with the survey recording a four per cent increase in people accessing work files with personal unprotected devices and a three per cent rise in people using work computers for personal reasons.

Cisco's chief security officer John Stewart said in a statement: "While working at home, people tend to let their guard down more than they do at the office."

Stewart said there was a need for companies to educate their employees about essential security practices and policies, and said managing corporate security is part technology, part process, part awareness, education and communication.

He said: "It's often more of a human challenge than a technical one."