Women weak in following security protocols: survey

Women are more likely than men to fail basic security protocols for keeping their password confidential in the workplace, finds a new YouGov survey, commissioned by an IT training company QA.

Compared with their male work colleagues, women are: 26 percent more likely to write down their passwords so they don't forget them; 40 percent more likely to share their password with friends and family; and 42 percent more likely to share passwords with a colleague.

The survey also found that men were no angels either. When it comes to being careful with their passwords almost a fifth (19 percent) of men also admit to writing them down so they don't forget them. However, women are 29 percent more likely to be unaware whether their company has an IT security policy, than men.

The survey findings, released at Europe's largest IT security show (Infosecurity Europe), provide a worrying backdrop to the newest cyber-security threat facing British firms today - social engineering. This is when crooks take advantage of human nature - in this instance lax attitudes towards password confidentiality - and use these to pull off a scam, steal confidential company data, or deliberately bring down the network.

Bill Walker, technical director at QA, works across commercial and Government organisations on cyber security and information assurance related issues and has been speaking recently at QA's cyber security seminars that have been touring the country. He believes that organisations need to look inwards, not just outwards, to address the threat posed by the rapidly growing number of social engineers.