One in three watch porn while at the office

A third of office workers have admitted to using the Internet to watch pornography in the workplace, a new survey has revealed.

The study, conducted by email security and management firm ProofPoint, was designed to highlight the risks caused by giving workers free reign on the internet, and looked at attitudes towards data security and other enterprise issues.

David Stanley, UK managing director at Proofpoint, said: "The vast majority of security breaches and data losses are down to the user sat in front of the computer. People are always the weakest link and this research shows just how fallible staff can be."

While a third of workers admitted to looking at pornography in the office, just seven per cent have been caught in the act. Other bad office-based behaviour included using company email to send material that was 'not safe for work'.

But some employees don't even need tech to be bad at work. Some 56 per cent admitted to turning up to work drunk. Almost a third also said that they had cancelled or failed to show up for a meeting because they were out drinking.

Stanley said that firms should take responsibility for securing systems, ensuring that such incidents are not allowed to happen.

"A real crossover in the digital realm between personal and professional lives means staff are increasingly relaxed in their use of workplace email and internet. Working longer hours and therefore using these technologies more to stay in touch with friends and family can only heighten the risk," he explained.

The results are based on a survey of 400 workers.

A previous study suggested as much as half of network traffic at offices is made up of porn, gambling, downloads and webmail.