Over of UK workers have no clear guidance on how to respond to a network security breach, a new survey found.
A survey carried out by IT training company The Training Camp found that 53 per cent of employees had not received clear instructions on how to respond in the event of a network security breach.
The company said as a result of this ignorance, employees could allow a hacker to cover their tracks and make life for computer forensics investigators difficult.
The study of 1,400 people found that the actions of employee could mean that an investigator looking into a breach of an organisation would not be able to find out the extent of a breach, the level of data loss or pin down the identity of a suspect hacker.
"When cyber crime strikes the real issue is not the incident itself but how the organisation responds to an attack," said Robert Chapman, chief executive of The Training Camp.
"Computer forensics is fast becoming a leading form of defence against cyber crime. But, investigators often find their enquiries are being hampered when employees continue to access a breached network," he said.
Chapman added that false trails and misinformation combine to disguise the tracks of the hacker and "prevent companies learning from breaches in order to strengthen the weak links in their network security."
The company suggested that companies should adopt a code of conduct to ensure that employees know what action to take if a hacker gained entry to infrastructure.
