As soon as I heard about today’s Pew
Internet Trust and American Life Project survey that says most people surf
the Internet for no particular reason—I immediately thought of our recent
research showing that the leisure, or fun side of the web can often be
tainted. For example, while doing research for our threat report we found that searching for breaking trends
and current news represented a higher risk (22.4 percent) than searching for
objectionable content (21.8 percent).
Most people get into trouble when they are busy doing
something that isn’t useful—internet use included. OK, so what does this mean
for you at work? Well, if you didn’t know it already, your new workforce is on
the internet A LOT, and they expect to have internet access.
So, you’ve got workers wandering the net and at every moment
they are just two
clicks away from malware. Makes you stop and think a bit about the security
defenses you have in place within your organization, doesn’t it?
The study says, “internet users of all ages are much more
likely now than in the past to say they go online for no particular reason
other than to pass the time or have fun. Some 58 percent of all adults (or 74 percent of all online
adults) say they use the internet this way.”
“Young adults’ use of the internet can at times be simply
for the diversion it presents. Indeed, 81 percent of all young adults in this age
cohort report they have used the internet for this reason at least occasionally.”
And it’s not just the youngest that are wandering the
internet in their spare time (at their lunch, or on a slow Friday, or Monday). More
than 65 percent of those 30-49 exhibit the same behavior.
You can’t stop internet access and keep happy employees, but
you can keep your organization safe.
Keep up with the latest in threats and threat research at
the Websense
Security Labs blog.
English (US)