Online holiday shopping at work puts strain on businesses
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According to a ISACA survey,  up to four out of 10 American employees will spend up to five hours shopping online while at work, at the potential cost of $3000 per employee.
ISACA released the survey results for “Shopping on the Job: Online Holiday Shopping and Workplace Internet Safety” on November 13. Although I didn’t read the full survey, I don’t understand how five hours costs $3000 for most businesses.
The survey also indicates that older Americans are less likely to do their online shopping at work. The group aged 18 to 24, dubbed the “Millennials” are described as being more tech-savvy, but also more concerned about a balance of work and life and are less loyal to their employers than other age groups.
The Millennials are also described as being less concerned about the vulnerability of their computer at work, with 49% paying more attention to security on their home computer than their work computer. Almost two-thirds of workers in other age groups are evenly concerned about security with both their home and work computer.
The best thing to take away from these survey results is that companies may be smart to invest an hour or two of their IT management team’s time into clearly communicating their expectations to employees regarding the use of company resources and time while shopping online. Besides the obvious loss of productivity, there are other issues often overlooked by the average employee. Non-work related web surfing, online transactions, and work e-mail use, can exponentially increase the exposure of the company to malware and other information security problems.
The press release from ISACA includes some detailed tips for holiday shoppers and for IT administrators, and I recommend checking them out.
Identitytruth released a press release today titled “Avoid Getting Caught with Gifts You Didn’t Plan on Buying”. This press release also has some good tips for shoppers, such as using a credit card instead of a debit/check card, and being careful when using ATMs and generally being wary of your personal and information security this season.
IdentityTruth does include one tip that is a bad idea. I recommendthat you do not write “SEE ID” on the signature panels of your credit cards. Visa and MasterCard regulations don’t allow merchants to accept unsigned cards. If you write “SEE ID” on your credit card instead of signing it, a properly trained merchant will ask you for your identification, but then will ask you to sign the card in front of them, before it can be accepted for payment. If your card is signed, Visa and MasterCard regulations don’t allow the merchant to ask for identification before accepting payment. The merchant must simply compare the signatures before accepting the card as payment.
IdentityTruth’s press release indicates that you have no legal protection when using a debit/check card for purchases. The EFTA limits your liability under federal law when using these items. However, there are many protections offered directly by American Express, Visa, and MasterCard that only a credit card can offer. These credit card issuers can help you get a refund if a merchant refuses to honor a return policy, and some issuing banks offer benefits that go as far as extending the warranty on items purchased, or even price protection should the price of an item drop within 30 days after purchase.