72% of APAC business travellers worry about data security: CWT

Only 28% of business travellers from Asia Pacific are confident about not compromising their employer’s data during their trips, compared to the global average of 35%. The survey commissioned by Carlson Wagonlit Travel finds that US travellers are the most confident (46%) while Europeans are the least so (27%).

The respondents cited several situations where data security could be compromised, chief of which include stolen or laptops or devices (29%), public WiFi usage (21%) and working on their laptops devices (9%).

However, negligence appears to be a more likely culprit when 37% of the respondents admitted to having downloaded an unknown file from an unrecognisable sender. The same percentage also said they have opened a phishing email. Other factors include unintentional sharing of company documents (9%), assessing company emails (8%), opening a file or visiting a website they shouldn’t have (8%) and disposal of paper documents (6%).

Andrew Jordan, CWT’s executive vice president and chief technology officer said the results mean more needs to be done to educate business travellers. Meanwhile, less than 20% of the travellers said they received frequent and formal communication and guidance about data and internet security from their company. Another 34% said they received some tips about what to avoid.

The results are however not all doom and gloom. Most of the respondents said they took action after becoming aware of a breach, such as by shutting down their device (37%), reporting to the company (25%), and notifying the IT department (34%), while 67% said they knew how to report a phishing email appropriately.