22 per cent of UK employees admit to having illegally accessed sensitive data such as salary details from their firms employer's IT systems

I found a coupling of interesting articles on the Register

This article is about the use of instant messaging at work,

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/16/akonix_im_survey/

it comes out with this quote

"One in six (16 per cent) of 2,000 UK consumers quizzed in a YouGov survey admitted using IM at work to send or receive sensitive company information or documents."

It is funny when I tell my Mum or Girlfriend that we use MSN Messenger at work. They often say why do you write messages to people who sit right near you, why don't you just talk to them.

The other interesting article I found was this one

Brit workers love to snoop

the article has some fantastic statistics

"Nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of UK employees admit to having illegally accessed sensitive data such as salary details from their firms employer's IT systems. More than half (54 per cent) of 2,200 adults polled during a YouGov survey said they'd forgo any scruples to do the same, given half a chance, according to a Microsoft sponsored survey that points to a culture of internal snooping and casual identity theft in offices across Britain."

"Survey respondents said that HR and payroll information was the most popular target (36 per cent), followed by their manager's personal notes (28 per cent) and their colleagues' data (25 per cent). Given the chance, six per cent said they would pinch a colleague's password."

The survey also says that 33 percent would be prepared to access confidential files in their previous employers if they still had the passwords. The information in the article is not really shocking, it's probably the most interesting gossipy details you can get about your work colleges. Although I don't think I could do it because after knowing things like salary details you would be dying to tell someone else, otherwise what's the point in knowing it.