Search Results for: data breach

December 11, 2020

Firms should be aware of the legal implications of employee monitoring

by James Castro-Edwards • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

Employee monitoring is an emotive topic. Businesses may wish to monitor their staff for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may wish to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of confidential or sensitive information, or detect attempts to steal valuable intellectual property. In the current conditions, dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have opted to use automated means to monitor staff productivity. However, from an employee’s perspective, the use of monitoring software may be intrusive if not distressing. Further, if it has been implemented without regard to data protection law, it is potentially illegal. More →

October 28, 2020

Businesses feel more vulnerable to cyber-attack due to the increase in remote working

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

Research conducted by NFU Mutual, a commercial insurer, claims that 47 percent of businesses feel more vulnerable to cyber-attack since the increase of remote working. Despite increased concerns, 45 percent of businesses have not taken any action to protect themselves from cyber-crime. Of those who have not taken action, 79 percent think that because their business is small, the threat of cyber-attack is low. The remaining 21 percent were not aware of, or did not understand, the protection measures available to them. More →

July 16, 2020

People do more work at home but increasingly worried about cost

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A new survey from Lenovo claims that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of people feel they are more productive working from home than when they were in the office and half (48 percent) believe they will continue to work from home more than they did. However, the report also suggests that two thirds of UK employees said they had to purchase new technology themselves to work effectively, spending an average of £271 to upgrade or improve technology while working at home. More →

January 5, 2018

Younger workers helping to drive a more positive perception of UK business

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

There has been a rise in the number of people who believe businesses in the UK have a good reputation, with a significant number of younger people helping to create this positive picture. The research, comparing perceptions of businesses between May and November 2017, reveals 2 in 3 people think UK businesses have a good reputation, up 7 percent in 6 months. The tracker, conducted by the CBI in partnership with global PR agency, Porter Novelli, and research company, Opinium, revealed that the public are more aware of the value business provides in local communities with an increasingly vocal business community emerging in recent months. Importantly, the improvement in business reputation has largely been driven by young people and those in work, with a significant 15 percent rise in positive views among 18-34 year olds. This reinforces the view that younger people are more engaged in the debate about the UK’s future, with the Brexit negotiations and a sharper political debate intensifying the focus on jobs and the economy.

October 17, 2017

Unequal access and usage could hold back potential of global digital economy

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Digital technologies continue to make impressive advances. Internet infrastructure is improving and the usage of digital tools is growing. The social impacts of digital innovation have also become more pronounced in diverse fields. However, progress is uneven across countries, businesses, and within societies. Broadening access to digital opportunities and helping those lagging behind to catch up would increase the benefits of the digital transformation and help ensure they are widely shared across economies and people, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017 says government policy has not kept pace with the digital innovation and transformation of economies and societies led by big technology firms. It calls on countries need to step up their efforts, invest more in education and skills and encourage greater use of advanced technologies like big data analysis and cloud computing, in particular by small businesses, to make the digital shift more productive and inclusive.

August 15, 2017

UK organisations remain unprepared to deal with effects of cyber attack

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

A new report from insurance broker Lockton, claims that UK businesses are unprepared for the potential length and severity of a cyber security breach. In ‘Cyber Aftershock: How UK companies underestimate the seismic waves produced by a data breach’, the firm claims that fully half of UK companies (50 percent) expect to be entirely operational 48 hours after a large-scale cyber security breach. The survey of senior decision-makers shows that only 2 percent of UK businesses think a breach will affect them for more than 10 days. The report challenges these ways of thinking and sets out the key steps organisations should now be taking.

July 19, 2017

Link between offices and wellbeing is too important for landlords and occupiers to ignore

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Developers and landlords who invest to create offices that embody the occupier-driven focus on wellbeing will reap their rewards commercially while those that don’t face diminishing returns, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield. The Well Workplace report claims to map out the major trends, opportunities and challenges of the future facing owners and occupiers of commercial office space due to the growing emphasis on employee health and vitality as part of the work environment. Improved lighting, layout and use of plants are all known to benefit wellbeing and can increase employee performance. Gains through boosting performance far outweigh potential cost savings through real estate efficiencies – making the imperative for occupiers clear, according to the report’s authors.

June 15, 2016

Biggest risk to company cyber security is mainly staff carelessness ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Bad habits and a lack of awareness about security mean that employees are inadvertently leaving companies’ cyber doors wide open to attack. New research by Norrie Johnston Recruitment (NJR); which forms part of NJR’s cyber security report: how real is the threat and how can you reduce your risk, shows that 23 percent of employees use the same password for different work applications and 17 percent write down their passwords, 16 percent work while connected to public wifi networks and 15 percent access social media sites on their work PCs. It’s not that people are unaware of the cyber threat. The research also shows that just over 50 per cent have experienced a cyber scam in the last twelve months. 29 have received a fake email from PayPal, Apple or a bank, 12 percent have been targeted by a Facebook scam and 7 percent have clicked a link that put a virus on a PC.

April 8, 2016

93 percent of UK mobile phone users have their location tracked daily ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Flexible working, News, Technology

You may recall a couple of news stories from January that sparked a fleeting debate about the way technology allows firms to pry into where we are and what we are doing. The first concerned the installation of under-desk sensors at the offices of The Daily Telegraph, the second a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights concerning the rights of employers to monitor the social media activities of staff. Our take on these stories was that neither was quite as it was reported, but maybe there’s more to concern us in a claim from an advocacy group called Krowdthink that Wi-Fi and mobile networks in the UK routinely track our location and sell data to marketing firms and other third parties. The organisation has initiated a new campaign called Opt me out of Location to highlight what it considers the privacy implications of a situation in which 93 percent of mobile phone users in the UK have their location monitored, usually without their knowledge.

February 8, 2016

CIPD joins forces with the UK Government to tackle workplace cyber security ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Legal news, News, Technology, Workplace

Human resources has a key role to play in improving the cyber security of UK workplaces. That is the key challenge addressed by a new joint initiative from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and the Development and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Data breaches cost companies up to an average of £1.46 million are often a result of human error and malice, according to the CIPD. The initiative includes a free online course called Cyber Security for HR professionals as part of a wider initiative to promote the importance of cyber security at work, as well as the critical role that HR has to play in ‘mitigating the competency and behavioural risks present in the workplace’. Government figures released last year indicated that the costs associated with the most severe breaches now start at £1.46 million for large businesses, up from £600,000 in 2014, and can reach up to £310,000 for small businesses, up from £115,000.

October 15, 2014

UK Government agency offers employers new guidance on BYOD

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Legal news, Technology, Workplace

The UK Government’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (CESG) has updated its official guidance on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), one of the most widely discussed workplace technology phenomena. While it’s tough enough for everybody else to keep up with the personal and cultural implications of technology, the slow but exceedingly fine grinding mills of Government can find it almost impossible to keep up. In an accompanying statement the CESG claims the update is essential because of the rapid uptake in flexible working in the UK and the associated increase in the use of personal mobile devices in a work context. The new guidance suggests that employers should consider the development of a formal BYOD policy, understand relevant legal issues and their potential consequences, manage information and the way it is shared and plan for inevitable security breaches.

March 6, 2014

Business continuity report confirms technology still biggest threat to firms

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Forget the recent UK floods. When it comes to risks to their businesses, it’s still tech that keeps business leaders awake at night, according to the latest annual Business Continuity Institute Horizon Scan report. Technology related threats continue to rank higher than natural disasters, security and industrial action according to the report which gauges the threats that organisations consider to be their biggest concerns. Nearly four-fifths of business leaders fear that an unplanned technological event, cyber attack or data breach will harm their business. Nearly three quarters (73 percent) consider malicious attacks through the Internet a major threat that needs to be managed closely, while nearly two-thirds (63 percent) think that social media remains a challenge. Meanwhile, one of last year’s threats – supply chain resilience – dropped out of the top ten completely.