Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Workaholics now working 2-6 hours a week in bed

Over a quarter of UK employees are so work obsessed they can't resist using a mobile device such as a laptop in bed before they go to sleep according to a survey released by CREDANT Technologies – the endpoint data protection specialists. The survey discovered that of those people who do work in bed, 57% do so for between 2 and 6 hours every week, little wonder that the survey also found that the majority of their bed companions found their partners' obsession with their mobiles "a very annoying habit". A staggering 8% of people admitted that they spend more time on their mobile devices during the evening than talking to their partners!

The survey into "Laptop use in bed and the security implications" was conducted amongst 300 city workers who were interviewed to determine whether the UK has become a nation of work obsessed, laptop dependent, key tappers and to highlight the security implications of unsecured mobile devices. Almost half the respondents (44%) admitted they are holding important work documents on their mobile devices of which 54% were not adequately secured with encryption.

This will sound alarm bells for the many in-house IT departments who are tasked with trying to secure an ever increasing mobile workforce who are using data on the move and consequently losing more unsecured data than ever before.

Additionally snooping neighbors or even malicious infiltrators could hack into the devices that are being used in bed, as a fifth of people are not using a secure wireless network as they busily tap away under their duvets.

The most favored way to connect to the Internet, and subsequently back to the office, whilst lying in bed is via a wireless network (87%). Disturbingly, almost a fifth of people spoken to are using a wireless network that they know is insecure, with 56% down/uploading company information.

When staying in hotels, people are happy to connect to the hotel's wireless network, expecting the hotel to ensure it's secure. 47% admit that they do so without even considering the security implications.

When asked "What is the last thing you do before going to sleep" it is reassuring to learn that, for 96% of the people questioned, it is kiss their partners goodnight. For the other 4%, (71% of which are male), who confess to completing work and checking their emails it would be advisable for them to take a long hard look at their gadget obsessed lives.

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