IT policies for company employees have been increasingly brought in over the years to help protect both the security of business information and to ensure networks are being used properly.
However, whilst most companies have the policies, many employees don't follow them, let alone know they exist.
This was the finding of a new report from Cisco, which showed although 82 per cent of companies had IT policies, less than one in four employees 24 per cent knew about them.
This wasn't down to staff ignorance though, as the report seemed to lay blame with bosses not communicating the policies effectively.
A significant 32 per cent of respondents claimed to only be informed of policies once a year, whilst a shocking 10 per cent said they had never been told about the rules in place.
"Companies clearly need to address this disconnect between IT policies and workers to avoid IT policies becoming irrelevant and employees breaking them with increasing regularity," said Marie Hattar, vice president of borderless networks at Cisco.
Even for those who understood the policies and their existence, respondents to Cisco's survey thought many needed adjusting.
Just fewer than 65 per cent said the rules needed to be improved to better suit modern working needs, be it remote working or the option to use a variety of portable devices.
"It is vital that businesses update IT policies to align with the evolving workforce which is not only becoming increasingly mobile but is also demanding more flexibility in regards to social media, video and devices," added Hattar.
"Employees are now expecting to be connected anywhere, anytime, with any device and any information in their work and personal lives."
The report concluded with a stark warning that employees were willing to break policies if they didn't agree with them. Of those who admitted to straying from the rules, 41 per cent said it was to access forbidden applications that helped them get their jobs done.
-
Putting small language models under the microscopeITPro Podcast The benefits of small language models are undeniable – but they're no silver bullet
-
CyberOne appoints Microsoft’s Tracey Pretorius to its advisory boardNews The threat intelligence leader will provide strategic guidance to CyberOne’s executive team
-
Cisco claims new smart switches provide next-level perimeter defenseNews Cisco’s ‘security everywhere’ mantra has just taken on new meaning with the launch of a series of smart network switches.
-
Cisco is jailbreaking AI models so you don’t have to worry about itNews Cisco's new AI Defense security solution helps organizations shore up LLM security by identifying potential flaws.
-
Cisco dispels Kraken data breach claims, insists stolen data came from old attackNews Cisco has refuted claims it has suffered a data breach after the Kraken threat group posted stolen data online.
-
Cisco patches critical flaws in Identity Services EngineNews Cisco has issued patches for a pair of critical vulnerabilities affecting its Identity Service Engine (ISE).
-
Your office is now absolutely riddled with surveillance equipmentNews While workplace monitoring is shown to have a detrimental effect on morale, many firms are still charging ahead
-
Cisco confirms attackers stole data, shuts down access to compromised DevHub environmentNews The tech giant insists that no sensitive customer information has been compromised
-
Cisco confirms investigation amid data breach claimsNews The networking giant says its probe is ongoing amid claims a threat actors accessed company data
-
Rubrik partners with Cisco to bolster cyber resilience
News Rubrik now integrates with Cisco XDR and is listed on the connectivity giant’s SolutionsPlus program
