According to research by Veritas Technologies, human error undermines benefits of cloud technologies.
Office workers in the UAE are not always quick to admit their errors when losing data from cloud-based applications, according to the findings. As a result, their employers are losing critical business information, including customer orders and financial data, through accidents and ransomware attacks.
The survey polled 11,500 workers from nine countries, including 500 from the UAE. Veritas found that seven in ten (72%) UAE-based office workers have accidentally deleted shared data, with as many as 24% accidentally deleting shared data multiple times a week.
UAE employees more likely to admit mistakes
UAE employees are more willing than their global counterparts to come forward and admit their mistakes, with 89% saying they have admitted to accidentally deleting data from cloud applications, compared to 84% globally. Of those that did not come forward, 36% said no one noticed their error, but in the cases where the accidents were discovered, almost a fifth (19%) of respondents reported that the data was lost for good.
Employees are less forthcoming with ransomware incidents. 18% of UAE respondents said they would immediately alert their IT department if mistakes they made introduced ransomware into their organisations. 43% said they would either do nothing or pretend it had not happened.
Speaking on how human error undermines benefits accrued from the cloud, Johnny Karam, Managing Director and Vice President of International Emerging Region at Veritas Technologies, said, “There’s often a short window where businesses can act to minimise the impact of deleting or corrupting cloud-based data used by employees. Without knowing the full details of where a ransomware attack came from, plus how and when, it’s much harder to limit its impact. We recommend that businesses in the Middle East create a culture of openness, with less judgement around human error. This means motivating employees to come forward as soon as possible so IT teams can act fast to take remedial action and save mission-critical data.”
Misconceptions
The research also found misconceptions regarding much help the cloud companies hosting their files would offer in the event that data was lost. Nearly all UAE-based respondents (96%) thought their cloud provider would be able to restore their files after deletion, though solutions are available, this is not always the case.
Lost forever
The research revealed that, on average, office workers in the UAE have accidentally caused the loss of 39 documents in the last year. In addition, 50% of employees said that they did not know who to tell or did not think it was important to tell anyone. 21% admit they have either forgotten their company’s policy for safe file storage, or have never seen it.
