I recently read a blog post titled “Security Turns off Millennials”. The post refers to a report commissioned by Cisco Systems, in which it claims that overly rigid security requirements and strict policy enforcement do turn off millennials in the workplace. We have always known that this generation are less concerned with sharing their private details publicly compared to the older generations, but I think this may be a wrong stereotype to place on the millenials.

As more of this generation enters the workplace you have a conflict of values no matter the age and size of the organisation. It therefore becomes imperative that organisations remain competitive by locking down their intellectual property. Access to such property should not only be locked down with tools like Enterprise Rights Management, but should have a comprehensive log of who accessed what information and when. This helps employees to become more careful in the way they use the information accessed.

Organisations that allow employee personal devices better have the security tools to manage the threats that come with such leverage. It could be an opportunity for organisations to train this generation the overall impact of a lack of proper IT security controls on a business, its competitiveness and jobs.

Case studies from organisations like Ford, HSBC, Heartland, etc that have suffered serious data breaches should be well documented and communicated to all staff on a regular basis as part of the ongoing IT security strategy. Businesses that take a serious view to IT security could help its employees secure data on their own personal machines by purchasing anti-virus and firewall licenses, and in the future enterprise rights management licenses.

Finally, the millennials are the social media generation, and organisations should endeavour to communicate their message through social media sites. Organisations that do this will be amazed to find out that the generation that is less concerned with IT security have the best ideas to reduce the IT threats in the workplace.