17 June 2009, Chertsey, Surrey - Samsung Electronics, a leading name in the world of consumer electronics and information technology, has today released the results of a Europe-wide survey of more than 4,500 workers in the public and private sectors, which revealed that companies are not putting in place appropriate measures to protect confidential information. According to the research, 56 per cent of workers regularly see confidential documents abandoned on the printer and over half (51 per cent) of those surveyed are not aware of any processes or technologies in place at their organisation to protect the printer network itself.
Despite public concerns about the protection of sensitive information, organisations across Europe are failing to take steps to protect it. Those working in the banking/finance sector were most likely to see confidential documents, with more than two thirds (68 per cent) of respondents seeing these on the print tray. The healthcare sector did perform better, but still more than one third of respondents (34 per cent) admitted to finding personal patient information left on the printer - including health records (38 per cent) and lab results (34 per cent) that they never were meant to see. These respondents were not just doctors and nurses - almost half (44 per cent) worked in roles such as marketing, operations, finance and IT.
The survey, conducted by Lightspeed Research, polled workers at companies with at least 50 people from eight European countries. The results reveal that although people know that safeguarding confidential documents is crucial, with almost two thirds (65 per cent) recognising serious consequences as a result of confidential data being exposed beyond their organisation, most do not realise the security risks that uncontrolled printing introduce to their business. IT security loopholes are emerging, which combined with careless printing habits compromise corporate and personal security.
