Skip to main content

Non-Work Related Internet Use Causes IT Disruptions

Sergio Galindo

Employers of more than one-third of those surveyed (38.6 percent) had suffered a major IT disruption caused by staff visiting questionable and other non-work related web sites with work-issued hardware, resulting in malware infection and other related issues, according to a study conducted by GFI Software. The study examined various ways that workers use company-provided computers and laptops for personal activities, and the direct impact that personal use can have on the organization.

The study also revealed that more than 35 percent (35.8) of staff would not hesitate to take company property including email archives, confidential documents and other valuable intellectual property from their work-owned computer before returning it, if they were to leave their company.

Furthermore, the study revealed that nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent) use a personal cloud-based file storage solution (e.g. Dropbox, OneDrive, Box) for storing and sharing company data and documents.

Key findings from the survey include:

■ 66.9 percent of respondents use their work-provided computer for non-work activities

■ Overall, 90.9 percent have at least some understanding of their company’s policy on usage, and 94.1 percent follow it to at least some degree

■ More than a quarter (25.6 percent) of those surveyed have had to get their IT department to fix their computer after an issue occurred as a result of innocent non-work use, while almost 6 percent (5.8) had to do the same due to questionable use (adult sites, torrents, etc.)

■ 10 percent have lost data and/or intellectual property as a result of the disruption caused by the outage

This study underscores the fact that data protection is a big problem, and one that has been exacerbated by the casual use of cloud file sharing services that can’t be centrally managed by IT. Content controls are critical in ensuring data does not leak outside the organization and doesn’t expose the business to legal and regulatory compliance penalties. Furthermore, it is important that policies and training lay down clear rules on use and reinforce the ownership of data.

The blind, independent study was conducted for GFI Software by Opinion Matters and surveyed 1,010 U.S. employees from companies with up to 1,000 staff that had a company-provided desktop or laptop computer.

Sergio Galindo is GM Infrastructure Business Unit at GFI Software.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...

Non-Work Related Internet Use Causes IT Disruptions

Sergio Galindo

Employers of more than one-third of those surveyed (38.6 percent) had suffered a major IT disruption caused by staff visiting questionable and other non-work related web sites with work-issued hardware, resulting in malware infection and other related issues, according to a study conducted by GFI Software. The study examined various ways that workers use company-provided computers and laptops for personal activities, and the direct impact that personal use can have on the organization.

The study also revealed that more than 35 percent (35.8) of staff would not hesitate to take company property including email archives, confidential documents and other valuable intellectual property from their work-owned computer before returning it, if they were to leave their company.

Furthermore, the study revealed that nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent) use a personal cloud-based file storage solution (e.g. Dropbox, OneDrive, Box) for storing and sharing company data and documents.

Key findings from the survey include:

■ 66.9 percent of respondents use their work-provided computer for non-work activities

■ Overall, 90.9 percent have at least some understanding of their company’s policy on usage, and 94.1 percent follow it to at least some degree

■ More than a quarter (25.6 percent) of those surveyed have had to get their IT department to fix their computer after an issue occurred as a result of innocent non-work use, while almost 6 percent (5.8) had to do the same due to questionable use (adult sites, torrents, etc.)

■ 10 percent have lost data and/or intellectual property as a result of the disruption caused by the outage

This study underscores the fact that data protection is a big problem, and one that has been exacerbated by the casual use of cloud file sharing services that can’t be centrally managed by IT. Content controls are critical in ensuring data does not leak outside the organization and doesn’t expose the business to legal and regulatory compliance penalties. Furthermore, it is important that policies and training lay down clear rules on use and reinforce the ownership of data.

The blind, independent study was conducted for GFI Software by Opinion Matters and surveyed 1,010 U.S. employees from companies with up to 1,000 staff that had a company-provided desktop or laptop computer.

Sergio Galindo is GM Infrastructure Business Unit at GFI Software.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...