Work distractions not only lead to distracted employees, but those employees are twice as likely to do the bare minimum for security at work.

According to 1Password (and covered by Help Net Security here), the findings reveal that sustained burnout, now paired with high levels of distraction, has critical implications for workplace security.

Here are some of the findings:

• Unprecedented stress: 4 in 5 employees (79%) feel distracted on a typical work day, with 1 in 3 employees (32%) saying they’re the most stressed they’ve ever been in their lives.
• A perfect storm: Top distractions include the Covid-19 pandemic (44%), recession/inflation (42%), economic uncertainty (38%), gas prices (34%), and personal relationships (29%).
• Missing motivation: More than 1 in 4 employees (26%) say that distractions from world events make it hard to care about their job. This has major repercussions for enterprise security, with distracted workers more than twice as likely as others to do only the bare minimum for security at work (24% vs. 10%).

And some of the problems caused by work distractions:

• Senior security snafus: Poor password hygiene is notably worse among employees at the level of director and above, with 49% using personal identifiers in their passwords.
• Password reuse: Despite knowing the risks associated, 1 in 3 employees reuse passwords.
• Same device, different gig: One in 10 workers (10%) have used their work computers or devices for a side gig or another job – and tech workers are even worse (19%) – making companies increasingly vulnerable to security risks.

There’s also a misperception that if security is too easy, it’s not safe. Employees are three times as likely to trust two-factor or multi-factor authentication as they are to trust single sign-on (65% vs. 19%).

There are more stats here regarding work distractions and the potential serious cybersecurity implications they cause. Try not to get distracted by them. Squirrel! 😀

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that 18 to 34-year-olds are the most likely victims of scams? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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