HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With more freedom given to employees for shopping online and accessing daily deal and social networking sites (SNS) such as Groupon and Facebook with a work-supplied computing device, IT professionals in China and Hong Kong anticipate that employees will do more holiday online shopping at work this year, increasing risk to the enterprise, according to the “2011 ISACA Shopping on the Job Survey: Online Holiday Shopping and BYOD Security.”
The global survey, conducted among 4,740 business and IT professionals who are members of nonprofit IT association ISACA, shows behaviors related to online shopping via personal and work devices.
More than half (52%) of respondents in China and Hong Kong predict that employees will do more online shopping during work hours this year—19% more than their counterparts in the US estimate and 12% more than respondents in all Asian countries. Almost half (45%) of respondents in China and Hong Kong think employees will spend at least six hours shopping online using work devices during November and December and another six hours using personal devices during work.
In China and Hong Kong, 34% of respondents state that their enterprises allow employees to shop online, and 26% allow it with some restrictions. Nearly 40% allow access to SNS or daily deal sites using a work device.
“The survey shows that companies in Hong Kong and China offer flexibility regarding the use of work devices for personal purposes. It is positive that organizations here take an ‘embrace and educate’ perspective, which provides the benefits of technology, while educating employees to minimize security incidents,” said Michael Yung, president of the ISACA China Hong Kong Chapter.
Respondents in the US, China and Hong Kong, and throughout Asia say the following activities are high risk:
- Clicking on e-mail links to access online shopping sites from a work devices
- Downloading personal files, such as music and pictures, onto work devices
- Losing/misplacing work devices
“To help make sure that online access is secure, employees should password-protect devices, and ensure that security tools are current,” said Yung. “Promoting awareness of security policies is key for effective risk management. It is also important to use industry best practices and governance frameworks like the Business Model for Information Security (BMIS).”
Additionally, 28% of both US respondents and those in China and Hong Kong say that their enterprise prohibits the use of personal mobile devices for work purposes—the “bring your own device” (BYOD) trend. Respondents in both areas say that the risk currently outweighs the benefits, so as employers increasingly allow BYOD, IT professionals must ensure proper risk management. Details on securing mobile devices are available at. www.isaca.org/mobiledevices.
Global survey results are available at www.isaca.org/online-shopping-risk.
ISACA Survey
The fourth ISACA Shopping on the Job Survey: Online Holiday Shopping and BYOD Security helps gauge attitudes and behaviors related to online shopping and blurring boundaries between personal and work devices. It is based on October 2011 online polling of 4,740 ISACA members from 84 countries, including 82 members from China or Hong Kong. Full survey results: www.isaca.org/online-shopping-risk.
About ISACA
With 95,000 constituents in 160 countries, ISACA® (www.isaca.org) offers the CISA®, CISM®, CGEIT® and CRISC™ designations. Follow ISACA on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ISACANews.