HP has released its HP Wolf Security Rebellions & Rejections report, a comprehensive global study highlighting the tension between IT teams and employees working from home (WFH) that security leaders must resolve in order to secure the future of work.
The findings show that IT teams have been forced into compromising security for business continuity at a time of rising threats. Making matters worse, their attempts to increase or update security measures for remote workers have often been rejected. This is particularly true for the future workforce of 18-24-year-olds – digital natives who feel increasingly frustrated with security getting in the way of deadlines, leading many to circumvent controls.
The new HP Wolf Security report combines data from a global YouGov online survey of 8,443 office workers who shifted to WFH during the pandemic and a global survey of 1,100 IT Decision Makers from , conducted by Toluna. Key findings include:
• 76% of IT teams admit security took a backseat to business continuity during the pandemic, while 91% felt pressure to compromise security for business continuity1.
• Almost half (48%) of younger office workers (18-24 years old) surveyed viewed security tools as a hindrance, leading to nearly a third (31%) trying to bypass corporate security policies to get their work done2.
• 48% of office workers surveyed agreed that seemingly essential security measures result in a lot of wasted time – this rises to 64% among those ages 18-242.
• Over half (54%) of 18–24-year-olds were more worried about meeting deadlines than exposing their organization to a data breach; 39% were unsure what their security policies say, or are unaware if their company even has them – suggesting a growing level of apathy among younger workers2.
• As a result, 83% of IT teams believe the increase in home workers has created a “ticking time bomb” for a corporate network breach1.