Teleworkers: Your company's latest security nightmare

Corporate security is being put in jeopardy by sloppy teleworkers who are flouting the rules.

A survey of 1,000 teleworkers in 10 countries commissioned by Cisco found more than one in five allow friends and family to log on to the internet using their work computer.

Chinese workers are the worst culprits, with 42 per cent of the country's respondents confessing to sharing work computers with loved ones.

Teleworkers' neighbours are also being exploited with a global average of 11 per cent of respondents getting their internet access by connecting to a neighbour's wireless network.

The survey found one in four respondents opens unknown emails when using a work device. China, again, wears the dunce's cap with 57 per cent of respondents in the country owning up to this behaviour. Meanwhile one in five teleworkers in India admits to opening unknown attachments, as well as unknown emails.

Two-thirds of teleworkers said they are aware of security concerns when working remotely but acknowledge their behaviour does undermine security.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) of UK teleworkers admit to logging on for personal reasons, while 53 per cent confess to doing a spot of online shopping.

Typical reasons for such behaviour include "my company doesn't mind me doing so" and "I doubt my company would care".

According to the survey, the main reason for teleworkers overlooking security is a lack of awareness about what exactly corporate security products and policies can and can't safeguard.

Cisco said employees now need clear guidance - for example homeworkers might think the company's antivirus software will protect them but this is often not the case.