Sales people blamed as security weak spots

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 29 Mar 2007 at 14:29

Sales people are the Achilles heel when it comes to security, according to a study commissioned by MessageLabs.

The results of polling nearly a thousand IT decision makers in the UK and US show that while the high volumes of pink shirted young salespeople may help cultivate a veneer of perfection, underneath lies a woeful ignorance of security issues bred from doing too many things at the same time.

This flaw is the result of high usage of communications technologies, from email to VoIP, without any consideration of security best practice.

In the UK, only one in five respondents were confident that their own employees would not cause a security problem.

This, however, isn't helped by the fact that two fifths didn't offer security training to their staff in the first place. And around half admitted to not having robust security procedures in place.

'A business's best assets and worst threats can be one and the same as the worst offenders are likely to be the best revenue generators. Removing the culprits is obviously not an option, what should be removed is the ability to be a threat,' said Mark Sunner, Chief Security Analyst, MessageLabs. 'Employing a managed services approach to security would be a businesses best appointment and omit the risks and threats hampering other employees.'

The lowest risk group when it came to security were middle managers with a role in the IT department of their company.

MessageLabs is offering a 'security makeover' to six small businesses with lamentable security standards. You can sign up here.