IT snooping

New research suggests that a third of IT professional abuse their knowledge of administrative passwords to access confidential email, passwords, data and board meeting minutes.

US information security company Cyber-Ark surveyed 300 IT professionals, and found one in three employees admitted to snooping, while 47% had used their role to gain access to data not relevant to their tasks.

“All you need is access to the right passwords or privileged accounts and you’re privy to everything that’s going on within your company,” Cyber-Ark’s British director Mark Fullbrook says.

The survey also says 70% of companies rely on insecure and outdated security methods for the exchange of confidential data.

Read more on data security and The high-tech spying boss