Greynet Research Study 2006
In July 2006, FaceTime commissioned NewDiligence, an independent market research
company, to conduct it's 2nd annual survey on the growth and impact of
greynets. As in the prior year, the research was conducted among a large sample
of corporate IT managers and end users across all size organizations in North
America, UK and Europe. The research study includes compiled data from 778 IT
managers and 385 end users. Key findings can be found below.
Request the complete results of the
2006 Greynet Research Study.
Key Findings:
Impact on Business:
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Eight in ten IT managers are at locations that have experienced a
greynet-related attack within the last six months (81%).
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Incidents attributed to greynet usage have significant and measurably negative
impacts on business. IT managers report legal risks patterns of greynet usage
as well as damages to network equipment personal computers. Greynet usage has
financial implications because remediation, repair and prevention have direct
labor costs.
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The number of greynet applications installed at a typical work location has
increased dramatically in the past year. Work locations where eight or more
greynet applications are in use have doubled in the past 12 months, growing
from 20% of locations one year ago to 41% today.
Employee Use:
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Employees use IM for a variety of reasons, including convenience, speed and for
work productivity. But as the boundary between work and personal space erodes,
the use of corporate PCs for personal communications is increasingly common:
70% of end users have sent personal IMs from work
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One-fourth of end users use IM because it affords "private, unmonitored
communications" (26%). Given the high reported incidence of downloading adult
materials, the use of salacious language and similar risky behaviors, the
desire of end users to avoid oversight signals a certain degree of business
risk
IT Perspective:
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On average IT managers at large organizations report a monthly average of 14
greynet-related incidents that require repair of company PCs. This incident
rate is closely correlated with company size: it is more than five times higher
at the largest companies compared to the smallest (as measured by employee
size)
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Only 11 percent of IT managers believe their network systems would have
intercepted the kinds of sexually explicit IMs allegedly sent by former
Congressman Foley. In fact, almost half (49%) rate their systems as
"ineffective" with one-third giving the lowest rating—"not at all effective"
(31%)
End User Attitudes Toward Greynets
Greynet Attacks are Widespread
Monthly Frequency/Cost of Greynet-related Attacks
Source: FaceTime Greynets Research Study, November 2006
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