A new survey shows many employees are jeopardising important company information by adopting a slapdash attitude to computer security.

The survey, which was undertaken by the organisers of the forthcoming Infosecurity Europe 2002 exhibition and the recently formed Human Firewall Council, found two out of three workers at Victoria Station gave complete strangers their company password when asked to in the survey about computer scruples at work.

The survey found the majority of workers download material on leaving, give passwords to friends and colleagues and were willing to pass on friends' competitive information.

Although it came as no surprise that many knew the most common password was the word "password" itself, the interviewers were surprised as to how many people boasted about the origins of their passwords.

These included "my car - a Porsche Boxster", "my pet's name - Fred", "my country of origin - Finland" and "my own name - Hattie".

Geoff Davies, managing director of Brighton-based security specialists I-Sec and a member of the Human Firewall Council, said: "I'm not really surprised by the results. I've seen surveys where 20 per cent of the interviewees agreed "banana" was a good password.

"They think hackers have a magic button to crack passwords but they have to realise hackers always try the usual suspects first, such as "password" or even "pw".

The survey also showed people were more loyal to their friends than their employer. While 51 per cent admitted they would download company information if asked to by a friend, 42 per cent would be happy to tell their friends their company password.

The majority of workers also said they would download contacts or competitive information to take with them to their next job.

By taking this information, they would not only be giving away a vital asset to a competitor but also making their employer potentially liable under the Data Protection Act.

The results showed a general lack of awareness or care about computer security and 64 per cent of the workers said they had given their password to a colleague.

The director of Infosecurity Europe 2002, Tamar Beck, said: "This survey proves people's loyalties are mainly to themselves, not to their employer. Staff are not necessarily uncaring about security just naive or ignorant.

"Employers need to instill in their people a culture of protecting information with policies and training which supports the expensive security technology they may already have invested in."

David Blackman, director of Pentasafe Security Technologies and the founder of the human firewall initiative, said: "Members of our council know people are the 'weakest link' so these findings are no surprise.

"As a pressure group we are doing everything we can to educate, campaign and learn from good practice to ensure people are security conscious and respect their employers information."

The Infosecurity exhibition will be held at the Olympia Exhibition Centre in London, from April 23 to 25.

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