By Sylvia Carr, 8 December 2004 16:30
NEWS Temporary workers can threaten network security - and cause legal troubles - when not schooled in an organisation's IT policies.
And most don't conduct this sort of training properly. 45 per cent of UK businesses do not require temps to sign off on the same rules and regulations as permanent staff, according to a recent survey conducted by FAST Corporate Services.
Geoff Webster, CEO of FAST Corporate Services, told silicon.com the situation becomes particularly dire when temps arrive with their own laptops. "You don't know what comes with laptop," he said. "It could contain a virus or Trojan", which can then spread to the employer's computer network.
Temps could also download copyrighted materials such as music, access pornography or spread defamatory remarks - all of which the employer would be liable for and could lead to expensive legal bills.
So what can companies to do stop temps from wreaking havoc?
"What companies ought to have in place is policies and procedures for their own employees - so they understand what the company expects of them," said Webster. "Then they should give temps the same document to read, understand and sign that says 'when working for this company, this is what you can do'."
If temps arrive with their own laptops, the IT department should check they are virus-free and spyware-free, Webster continued.
The principle reasons why nearly half of UK businesses don't require temps to sign policy agreements are a lack of awareness of the damage temps can cause - and because they don't do it for their own employees, according to Webster.
Though not out to deliberately cause harm, temps are more likely to violate IT policies than fulltime employees, said Webster, "because they are not subject to the disciplines" of a particular company. "Temps might come in with the attitude - 'I can download anything off the internet'. They may think because of past experience that it's OK," he said.
FAST Corporate Services is a for-profit organisation which provides education on software use for businesses.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I know this article refers to temps but I do not know many who bring in their own laptops. As a contractor I find that I am usually more aware of my clients' policies than full time staff and certainly my laptop is more secure than those of many companies I have worked for. We have to be more careful or we do not get any repeat business!
2. Richard
Yet another wild claim from this silly pressure group.
Where is their evidence?
A few facts:
1. Most breaches are due to genuine human error.
2. Much modern commercial software makes these errors more likely and more devastating.
3. FAST represents commercial software manufacturers
3. Roger Huffadine
My experience of 'temping' is that the IT staff are under pressure, under paid and often under-skilled [pay peanuts get monkeys] and that causes problems.
In the past I have waited 3 weeks for passwords - so the department that employed me had to give me other people's passwords.
Having left that particular establishment I am convinced that my passwords are still active. A friend of mine who also worked for the establishment visited 2 years after he had left and found his passwords to be still active.
As a 'retired' IT professional I also found really rotten databases and even financial imprudence - but when I mentioned the problems nobody was interested.
I subscribe to the "problems are caused by genuine errors" argument. However, a lot of the genuine errors are caused because people who have worked in companies for many years have had technology forced upon them and they are not equal to the tasks.
This type of mismatch in training and aptitude is supposed to be illegal under Health and Safety Guidelines but as with most problems - nobody wants to know.