74 Percent of IT Pros Admit to Network Snooping
IT professionals may carry a great amount of power, but with great power comes great responsibility.
A recent study by Cyber-Ark has revealed that an increasing number of IT professionals are using their administrative powers to access information not relevant to their role.
Cyber-Ark surveyed 400 IT professionals about how they use their privileged accounts. The survey found that 64 percent of UK IT professionals admitted to accessing information not relevant to their role, while 74 percent of U.S. IT pros admitted to doing the same. Further, 41 and 40 percent (UK and U.S. respectively) admitted they had used their admin password to access information considered to be confidential or particularly sensitive.
The fact that 67 percent of UK respondents and 78 percent of U.S. respondents say their privileged accounts are monitored does barely anything to pacify concerns when Cyber-Ark reports that 53 percent (UK) and 74 percent (US) have the ability to get around controls put in place to monitor access.
Asked what they would take if they knew they were going to be fired in the morning, only 30 percent of UK respondents said nothing. The U.S. respondents seemed a little more loyal to their employers, with 64 percent saying they'd take nothing. Of the 70 percent of British and 36 percent of Americans who said they would take something, the most prominent choice was the database (16 percent in both countries). Also on the list were privileged passwords, the email server admin account, financial reports, the CEO's password and R&D plans.
Those surveyed said they believed the people working IT departments were most likely to snoop around the network.
Have you ever snooped around on the network at work? Let us know in the comments below!

But ya, the amount that said they would steal data is no good at all.
So, they would take data - personal emails, photos maybe? And some (an undisclosed number) said they'd take more.
Seems like a lot of FUD re: taking stuff. More information required.
The result of this survey really means that 70% of the networks has not been configured correctly. You don't need survey for that they just need to ask any Sys Admin to confirm it.
And don't get your Sys Admin angry. It could cost you big time.
By your logic, because IT has access to the HR database (should something go wrong, they would of course need access to fix it), it's not snooping if they look at why so-and-so was off sick for depression for two months, or who's got maternity leave booked, or even look up home addresses and phone numbers for all employees.
Likewise, most IT staff can tell you your password if you forget it; that doesn't mean they're entitled to check your emails, which may contain confidential client information, etc.
"The survey found that 64 percent of UK IT professionals admitted to accessing information not relevant to their role, while 74 percent of U.S."
Thanks for the sensationalized headline. Snooping is definitely not the same as looking at something irrelevant. Facebook is irrelevant, but I wouldn't call that snooping by any means.
However, I'd also like to know how many end users bitch and moan that they should change their network password from "Password1". This is especially true of smaller businesses.
Do you have any concept of system administration? Lets break this down:
Unix systems - root = god of all. There is no securing files from it at the *SYSTEM* level. Non administrated certificate based or 3rd party user encryption is the only way.
Windows: Yes, you can "deny" the administrator from looking at files and what not.. however, SOMETHING has to access it for it functions, such as most network based backup systems that run as a user account that can see it, which IT Staff setup.
Both of those items pointed out, a database requires setup and Maintenance. Whoever administers that will need access for at least that much, which gives them the ability to see everything.
Bottom line, SOMEONE has to have the power to setup security measures, and therefore have the ability to turn them off or go around them. The only security "Measure" there can be is an audit log, which even then is setup by the administrator. As far as "snooping" goes, because it is done with out changing anything, its impossible to keep the sysadmin out, beyond the measures I indicated above, which means the system administrator wont be able to read the contents of the files, but also could cause issues with backup and other operations if there are shared files.
I've gone through 10 years worth of audits, and ITIL + SOX all acknowledge this known limitation of security.
Know what you're saying before you comment on it.
enough said...