Security measures at home and work
AdvertisementBarely a month goes by these days without a story about someone leaking state secrets through Winny or other P2P software, so to see if either the personal or corporate world are doing anything about these sorts of issues, Marsh Inc conducted a survey reported on by japan.internet.com into awareness of information security.
Demographics
Between the 29th of May and the 3rd of June 2008 300 members of the Marsh online monitor group employed in either the public or private sector successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. Exactly 50.0% of the sample were male, 20.0% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.0% aged sixty or older.
We have internet policies at work that basically say no non-work sites are to be accessed, but I a friend works on the basis that if the proxy doesn’t block it then it’s OK. They also ban Skype because it can use a lot of bandwidth, but that excuse always smelt of convenience, as rather than put rules in place to ensure that it doesn’t steal bandwidth in the office, a blanket ban was much simpler. It’s a bit of a pain when on business trips, as I can’t use Skype for free or cheap phone calls.
In addition, at my workplace the first five security measures mentioned in Q4 are in place and we also have a smart card that is needed in order to connect to either the wireless network or the VPN.
I was disappointing in Q4 not to see the Trusted Platform Module being asked about, although I suspect the figures for usage would be absolutely zero! However, with Interop Tokyo next week seeing the launch of the Japan Regional Forum of the Trusted Computing Group, perhaps we’ll see a survey on awareness of that particular technology soon.
Research results
First of all, all 300 were asked if they took security measures at home. 259, or 86.3% said they did and 8.7% that they didn’t. The remaining 5.0% presumably didn’t know. These 259 were asked the following question.
Q1: What sorts of security measures do you take? (Sample size=259, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Anti-virus software 228 88.0% Anti-spyware software 111 42.9% Firewall 79 30.5% Personal firewall 66 25.5% Proxy-based security service 58 22.4% Online virus, spyware scanning service 13 5.0% Other 4 1.5% I presume the proxy-based security service includes server-based mail virus scanning, otherwise it seems a rather high figure.
Next, they were asked if they had internet usage policies at work. 53.0%, or 159 people, said that they did. When asked what sorts of internet uses were forbidden, 95 people said mixi and other SNS, 84 people online shopping, 103 people online games, 104 people P2P file sharing software, 132 people adult contents, 90 people YouTube and other video sharing sites, and 105 people 2channel and other bulliten boards.
Q2: At your workplace, are there policies regarding notebook computers that get taken out of the office? (Sample size=300)
Yes 50.3% No 36.3% Don’t know 13.3% Q3: How do you get permission to take notebook computers out of the office? (Sample size=300)
Forbidden to take them out 35.7% If you get permission you can take them out 22.0% There is unwritten rules about getting permission 7.3% No restrictions about taking them out 35.0% Q4: What security measures are carried out on work notebook computers? (Sample size=300, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Anti-virus software installed 224 74.0% Apply security patch updates regularly 108 36.0% Use password-protected screen saver 99 33.0% Hard disk encryption 46 15.3% Use VPN or other high-security network connection 42 14.0% Use encrypted USB memory 24 8.0% Use fingerprint scanner 15 5.0% Use fingerprint scanning USB memory 3 1.0% Other 8 2.7% No particular security methods used 48 16.0%
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