Most Employees “Would Sell Company Passwords For £100”

IT managers may need to start keeping a closer eye on their employees following a report which found that an alarming majority of workers would be prepared to sell off company passwords for a small sum.

The study by security firm SailPoint found that the vast majority of a thousand employees at major organisations across the UK would be tempted to hand over passwords for as little as £100.

This is in spite of a number of high-profile security lapses recently, as hackers were able to gain access to the likes of Malaysia Airlines and the PlayStation Network.

Proper protection

In addition to blatant sabotage, the survey also confirmed that employees are lax about password management in general.

Overall, one in five employees confessed to routinely sharing login information for corporate applications with other members of their team.

Alongside this, 56 percent of respondents admitted to reusing the same passwords for a range of corporate applications, with many as 14 percent of employees using the same password across all applications.

“Employees may have moved away from the post-it note password list, but using the same password across personal and work applications exposes the company,” said Kevin Cunningham, president and founder of SailPoint.

“Just think of the major breaches that occurred in 2014 requiring users to change their passwords on social media. If those were the same passwords being used to access mission critical applications, it’s very easy for hacking organisations to take advantage and get into more valuable areas. The fact is that password reuse poses a significant risk to any organisation – but the good news is that there are solutions that can quickly address the problem.”

Remembering passwords has proved to be a growing annoyance for many of us, with a recent Centrify study finding that more than one in three (38 percent) workers have accounts they cannot get into any more because they cannot remember the password, and 28 percent get locked out at least once a month due to multiple incorrect password entries.

Are you an Internet security expert? Take our quiz!

Mike Moore

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Recent Posts

X’s Community Notes Fails To Stem US Election Misinformation – Report

Hate speech non-profit that defeated Elon Musk's lawsuit, warns X's Community Notes is failing to…

1 day ago

Google Fined More Than World’s GDP By Russia

Good luck. Russia demands Google pay a fine worth more than the world's total GDP,…

1 day ago

Spotify, Paramount Sign Up To Use Google Cloud ARM Chips

Google Cloud signs up Spotify, Paramount Global as early customers of its first ARM-based cloud…

2 days ago

Meta Warns Of Accelerating AI Infrastructure Costs

Facebook parent Meta warns of 'significant acceleration' in expenditures on AI infrastructure as revenue, profits…

2 days ago

AI Helps Boost Microsoft Cloud Revenues By 33 Percent

Microsoft says Azure cloud revenues up 33 percent for September quarter as capital expenditures surge…

2 days ago