• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead

2

Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline

3

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax was designed to hit the wealthy, but it’s sending most New Yorkers to their estate lawyers

1

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead

2

Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline

3

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax was designed to hit the wealthy, but it’s sending most New Yorkers to their estate lawyers
LeadershipMillennials

Millennial Employees Could Be Your Company’s Biggest Cybersecurity Risk

By
June 15, 2016, 12:43 PM ET
450814309
Group of coworkers discussing project in officePhotograph by Thomas Barwick—Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Maybe it’s not so surprising that Mark Zuckerberg’s social media accounts got hacked last week. A recent study by IT consultants Softchoice suggests that the 32-year-old Facebook CEO was only acting his age.

Using the same password for a bunch of different accounts, skipping two-step authentication when it’s available, and other risky online behavior is especially common among Millennials—even, previous research shows, if they’re trained techies who you’d think would know better.

The proliferation of cloud-based apps, which make it harder for tech departments to keep an eye on where company data may be vulnerable, isn’t helping. The Softchoice report says employees of all ages who use cloud-based apps are four times more likely to access work files outside the office through a program IT doesn’t know about than those who don’t.

Not all employees are equally risky, the study notes. “Younger app users are more likely to go rogue than their more senior colleagues,” it says. More than one in three Millennials, and almost as many Gen Xers, work remotely using apps (most often Dropbox or Google Docs) without first getting the IT department’s OK. That compares with 22% of Boomers.

Some Millennials also take a devil-may-care approach to passwords. About 30% “display their app passwords on Post-It notes or somewhere else in plain sight” at work, compared to 20% of Gen Xers and just 11% of Boomers.

 

More training might help, since Softchoice found that many employees are simply unaware of the risks of their careless technology habits. Over 40% of workers in all age groups say they’ve never been told how to securely move and store private company data, and 39% “have not been told the risks of downloading cloud apps without IT’s knowledge.”

Beyond that, people’s reasons for going their own way in the cloud vary by age. Asked why they were using cloud-based apps the IT department hadn’t approved, most Millennials and Gen Xers said that “IT is too slow to approve their choice,” the report says. Boomers, on the other hand, most often said they “didn’t know they had to notify IT at all.”

Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Leadership

Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘hundred year flood’ in memory chip pricing
Big TechApple
Tim Cook signed off on his final Apple earnings call with a warning about a ‘hundred year flood’ in memory chip pricing
By Alexei OreskovicJuly 30, 2026
3 hours ago
Asia drives 60% of global growth, but the region’s CEOs can’t escape geopolitics. Here’s how they can stay competitive
Commentarygeopolitics
Asia drives 60% of global growth, but the region’s CEOs can’t escape geopolitics. Here’s how they can stay competitive
By Yasushi SasakiJuly 30, 2026
6 hours ago
Jeff Bezos could add to the swelling ranks of American billionaires in English soccer
C-SuiteJeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos could add to the swelling ranks of American billionaires in English soccer
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 30, 2026
10 hours ago
nyse
AIdisruption
Nearly a third of workers admit to sabotaging their company’s AI—and smaller paychecks may explain why
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 30, 2026
11 hours ago
‘I predict one day Amazon will fail’: Jeff Bezos once warned his company might only last 30 years. At 31, it’s the biggest company in the world
C-SuiteAmazon
‘I predict one day Amazon will fail’: Jeff Bezos once warned his company might only last 30 years. At 31, it’s the biggest company in the world
By Sarah GlodekJuly 30, 2026
11 hours ago
Aliko Dangote is leaving one-third of his $35 billion fortune ‘to humanity’—a rare move among Africa’s billionaires
Successphilanthropy
Aliko Dangote is leaving one-third of his $35 billion fortune ‘to humanity’—a rare move among Africa’s billionaires
By Sydney LakeJuly 30, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
Success
He worked 100-hour weeks to save a nearly bankrupt boat company. At 83, he’s just turned down $400 million for it—and gave it all to charity instead
By Preston ForeJuly 29, 2026
1 day ago
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
Retail
Costco's $14 million email settlement: Who qualifies for an up-to $500 payment and how to claim before the Aug. 24 deadline
By Sydney LakeJuly 29, 2026
2 days ago
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax was designed to hit the wealthy, but it’s sending most New Yorkers to their estate lawyers
Real Estate
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax was designed to hit the wealthy, but it’s sending most New Yorkers to their estate lawyers
By Catherina GioinoJuly 30, 2026
20 hours ago
'Am I paying for the vibes?' Gen Z says it hates capitalism, but their spending patterns show they just don't like being ripped off
Retail
'Am I paying for the vibes?' Gen Z says it hates capitalism, but their spending patterns show they just don't like being ripped off
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 30, 2026
16 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 30, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 30, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 30, 2026
17 hours ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
6 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.