---

---

Published: December 2008

Telecommuting poses privacy threats to company networks

Analyzing data from an employer survey, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has found that the telecommuting trend poses unique privacy and security threats to companies.

Click here to link to CDT's policy post with results of the survey

Below is a summarized excerpt of the survey results:

Telecommuting, a practice increasingly favored by employers and workers alike, has a great deal to recommend it, but it also raises serious new privacy and security threats that must be addressed in order to prevent this generally beneficial practice from leading to serious privacy and security failures. CDT joined Ernst & Young to survey employers about telecommuting and to identify the best practices and areas of weakness.

A diverse group of 73 organizations representing 10 industries in the US, Canada, and Europe responded to the survey. Their sizes ranged from over 100,000 to a handful of employees. The average number of employees in the sample was approximately 50,000 with a median of 4,000.

Among the key findings:

• A large majority (84 percent) of respondents allowed employees to handle personal information (generally considered to be data that relates to an identifiable person, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, or email addresses) at home. Nearly 20 percent of those organizations had no policies addressing hardware and software use by telecommuters.
• Nearly 75 percent of responding organizations allow telecommuters to generate paper records containing personal information. This includes transcribing personal information onto notepads or forms, printing or faxing personal information, and bringing paper records containing personal information home from the office.
• About 50 percent of respondents indicated that their telecommuting employees, both full-time and occasional, sometime use their own personal computers and PDAs at home for work purposes.
• Fewer than half (49 percent) of the respondents required the use of e-mail encryption software.

Among other things, the report recommends that employers:

• Develop telecommuting-specific policies and guidance that address specific needs and risks.
• Provide telecommuters with clear guidance on the use and disposal of paper records containing personal information.
• Identify the most relevant physical security requirements for telecommuting employees and provide the tools necessary to meet those requirements.
• Provide "thin" clients and other privacy-enhancing devices to employees that frequently work from home.

For More Information

Center for Democracy and Technology

---

Download File

No Download Available

Category

Privacy/Rights   ♦