Generation Gmail increase security risk for their employers

Under-25s' use of personal email sees intellectual property placed on public servers

Under-25s dubbed the Gmail Generation are increasing security risks for enterprises, according to research conducted by email solutions company Mimecast.

This demographic is more inclined to use personal than work email accounts, with 85 per cent saying they do so. This results in company intellectual property being stored on public servers.

The report argues that the younger employees do not want to be restricted by technology, with more than half (51 per cent) saying that if they had an unlimited work mailbox they would be less likely to use personal emails. This is 11 per cent higher than any other age group.

Nathaniel Borenstein, chief scientist at Mimecast said: "With social networks and personal email being a ubiquitous part of life, the way email is used by this demographic is bleeding into the workplace - it is therefore not surprising that expectations for workplace technology are shifting accordingly."

The report also highlighted that more than 300 work-related emails per person are sent via personal accounts each year.

52 per cent of under-25s also indicated that they thought personal email was better than work email in terms of mailbox size, compared with just 29 per cent of over-55s.