63 percent of British workers do not realize that unauthorized access to an email account without the owner’s permission is a criminal offense, according to a new study from Centrify, a leading provider of cloud-ready Zero Trust Privilege to secure modern enterprises.
This news comes just a few months prior to the 30-year anniversary of the Computer Misuse Act – a piece of law that deals with the crime of accessing or modifying data stored on a computer without authorization to do so. As it stands, the lowest level of penalty, if you are found guilty of gaining access to a computer without permission, is up to two years in prison and a £5,000 fine.
The survey of 2,000 fulltime UK workers in professional services, conducted by independent survey company Censuswide, also found that one in 20 workers have admitted to logging into their friend’s Facebook without permission. A further one in 25 admits to having hacked-in to a colleague’s email account without permission.
Cyber attacks can have a devastating impact on a company or individual and it is important that workers understand how seriously instances of unauthorized access to someone else’s computer will be taken.
The Computer Misuse Act does not discriminate between hackers with malicious intent and employees who do not know the law. Would the one in every 20 employees who have admitted to hacking done so if they realised the risks that are presented to their company, and the actions which could be taken against them were they caught?
At the same time, workers must ensure that they take the necessary precautions in ensuring that their own passwords can not be guessed, stolen or obtained by any of their peers, and organizations must adopt a zero-trust approach to further reduce the risk of malicious parties taking advantage of their colleagues\’ log-in credentials and their company’s data.
Business owners and managers need to get their acts together. Ignorance of the law is no defence. Their systems are vulnerable to attack and if employees do things in the name of their bosses, that opens businesses and their owners or directors up to substantial liabilities. It’s time to wake up before it’s too late.