Over-30s tend to do better at cyber security than younger colleagues
.jpg)
Brits over the age of 30 tend to be more likely to adopt best practice when it comes to cybersecurity than their younger colleagues, even though the under-30s tend to be more anxious about security matters, according to a study conducted by NTT’s cyber unit.
The study, which also looked into the attitudes of people in multiple other countries, was conducted as part of NTT’s Risk: Value report 2019 and scored across 17 criteria. In the UK, over-30s scored higher in terms of security best practice than the under-30s. When compared with people in the other countries studied, which included Brazil, France, Hong Kong and the US, people in the UK tended to score higher regardless of age.
The study cannot be read as an indictment of the habits of millennials (those born between approximately 1980 and 1995) because the oldest millennials are now approaching the age of 40. However, its findings do clearly show that just because people have grown up as digital natives and are aware of the risks of life online, it does not necessarily mean they are paragons of virtue when it comes to security.
Indeed, suggested NTT, employees who have spent longer in the workplace gaining knowledge and skills – what it termed “digital DNA” – have a clear advantage over their younger colleagues.
“It’s clear from our research that a multigenerational workforce leads to very different attitudes to cybersecurity. This is a challenge when organisations need to engage across all age groups, from the oldest employee to the youngest,” said NTT Security’s vice-president of consulting for the UK and Ireland, Azeem Aleem.
“With technology constantly evolving and workers wanting to bring in and use their own devices, apps and tools, business leaders must ensure that security is an enabler and not a barrier to a productive workplace.
“Our advice for managing security within a multigenerational workforce is to set expectations with young people and make security awareness training mandatory. Then execute this training to test your defences, with all company employees involved in simulation exercises,” said Aleem.
“Finally, teamwork is key. The corporate security team is not one person, but the whole company, so cultural change is important to get right.”
The research revealed that under-30s expected to be more productive, flexible and agile at work using their own tools and devices, but half thought that responsibility for security rested solely on the shoulders of the IT department – 6% higher than older age groups.
One anonymised interviewee, a 28-year old working in the finance sector, commented: “I don’t think I care anymore. There is so much stuff out there now, what with Cambridge Analytica. It is all out there, I accept that at some point someone might try to defraud me and impersonate me and I will deal with it when it happens, I suppose.”
Young risk-takers
The report seemed to show younger workers were more ready to take risks – 52% said they’d consider paying a ransomware demand, compared with 26% of over-30s. But 58% believed their employers did not have the right in-house skills or resources to cope with the number of security threats, compared with just 26% of older adults.
Younger people also tended to dramatically underestimate the amount of time it would take to recover from a cybersecurity breach and were less likely than their older colleagues to believe cyber should be a regular item on the boardroom agenda.
However, younger people did consider the internet of things (IoT) as a greater security risk than the over-30s.
Adam Joinson, professor of information systems at the University of Bath – who specialises in the intersection of IT and human behaviour – said that if the report made anything clear, it was that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to security.
“The insights from the NTT study demonstrate that treating all employees as posing the same risk, or having the same skills, is problematic for organisations. We do need to be careful not to assume that the under-30s simply don’t care so much about cybersecurity. While this may be true in some cases, in others it is more likely that existing security policies and practices don’t meet their expectations about ‘stuff just working’,” he said.
“If we want to harness the fantastic creativity and energy of younger workers, we need to think about security as something that enables their work, not something that blocks them from achieving their tasks. This is likely to mean security practitioners having to fundamentally rethink the way security policies operate and find ways to improve the fit between security and the tasks employees are required to undertake as part of their core work,” added Joinson.
To this end, NTT has produced a checklist of six best practice tips to reinforce security in a multigenerational workforce. These are to:
- Make security culture inclusive of all age groups and supported by age-diverse “champions”.
- Listen to the views of younger employees on cyber.
- Enable agile and flexible workplaces that help younger people buy into the desired security culture.
- Make security leaders approachable to everyone in the business.
- Support learning programmes, mentoring and even external support in areas where skills shortages are most acute.
- Educate, possibly even through tactics such as gamification.

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.