Watch out, half your colleagues are 'spying' on you

Bangalore: Your secrets in the workplace may not always be a secret, as a study conducted among Indian workers reveals. The study commissioned by Yasni people search was conducted among 974 Indian workers, revealing that 42 percent admit 'spying' on their colleagues.

The study revealed that the workers searched online for their colleagues' and managers' social networking pages, blogs they have commented on and forums they are members of, in the hope of finding some hidden personal secrets. The study suggests that this may ultimately lead to better relationships within the workplace.

"Over 40 percent of employees have the advantage of knowing what their manager likes to do in their spare time and what better way to impress your boss than to show an interest in their favorite hobby?," says Andy Barr, Chief Communications Officer of Yasni.

Recently, a survey revealed that more than one-third of IT professionals abuse administrative passwords to access confidential data such as colleagues' salary details or board-meeting proceedings.

Data security company Cyber-Ark surveyed more than 400 senior IT professionals in the U.S. and Britain, and found that 35 percent admitted to snooping, while 74 percent said they could access information that was not relevant to their role. In a similar survey last year, 33 percent of IT professionals admitted to snooping, which shows that the trend is increasing and it is time to watch out.