More than 1 in 5 workers use the same password

Cyber security is often on the minds of leading companies, but what many haven't realised is that the biggest threat to their servers could be right under their noses - their employees.

In fact, staff have been found to be a significant risk to their employer's cyber security, according to a report by Norrie Johnston Recruitment (NJR)'s  latest research on Cyber Security.

The report revealed several bad habits that highlight the vulnerability employees are causing for companies, including:

• 23% of employees use the same password for different work applications
• 17% write down their passwords
• 16% work while connected to public Wi-Fi networks
• 15% access social media sites on their work PC's.

This general lack of awareness, although inadvertent, is significantly dangerous because it is essentially leaving companies' cyber doors wide open to attack.

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However, the report also clarifies that people are still aware of cyber threat.

It highlighted that over 50% of employees have experienced a cyber scam in the last 12 months, in their personal lives.

"It appears that people are bombarded by potential cyber threats in their private lives and are quite savvy about how to avoid them.  Yet when it comes to a work situation they don't realise that they still need to be security aware. As a result, they are making their employers vulnerable to attack." commented Graham Oates, CEO of NJR.

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