GovernmentExecutive.com

Many federal employees are using wireless Internet when they telework, but agencies could do more to increase wireless adoption and to train employees on information security, a report released Tuesday found.

Training is particularly important, said Cindy Auten, general manager of the Telework Exchange, an Alexandria, Va., public-private partnership that published the report along with Sprint Nextel. More employees are bringing home work after hours and on weekends, and they might not be aware of proper security measures, she said.

"If you're trained [to work] in a remote environment, then [you know] you shouldn't leave your laptop in your car, [you understand] encryption [and you make] sure your laptop is safe no matter what you do with it," Auten said. "Someone who is used to working in an office environment [might not be] familiar with [telework] policies."

Sixty-five percent of teleworkers and 51 percent of the information technology executives included in a May survey of 310 federal employees upon which the report is based said wireless Internet was somewhat or very important to productivity, while 67 percent of teleworkers and 63 percent of IT executives said access to wireless Internet played an important role in continuity of operations during emergencies.

Respondents who did not have formal telework agreements, but did have wireless Internet access at home, also said wireless access was important to them. Seventy one percent of them said wireless Internet contributed to productivity, and 91 percent said wireless was somewhat or very important for maintaining continuity of operations.

Twenty six percent of the IT executives surveyed said their agencies provided teleworkers with mobile broadband cards, which allow users to create their own wireless network, and 11 percent of agencies paid for service for those mobile broadband cards.

Despite the perceived benefits of wireless Internet, 40 percent of the IT executives included in the survey said their agency did not allow them to use it, while 11 percent of executives, 33 percent of teleworkers and 48 percent of those who were not enrolled in formal telework programs did not know the rules.

The study found that agencies that did allow wireless access were taking steps to ramp up security. Seventy-eight percent of federal employees who used wireless Internet for teleworking or in the office reported using a virtual private network to access their agency's network.

Eighty-seven percent of the Defense Department IT executives included in the survey said they were aware of Department of Defense Mandate 8100.2, which requires that unclassified data transmitted over wireless networks be encrypted, and 76 percent of the executives said their agency complied with the mandate.

But, Auten said, even that level of compliance with the Defense mandate was not enough. Civilian agencies could benefit from similar requirements, she added.

"[On] the civilian side, there isn't a comparable mandate to make sure encryption of data, laptops and devices are completely secure," she said. "You can train your employees as much as possible, but you need the technology to back it up, because there is human error. People should accept that there are things outside their employees' control."

COMMENTS

• If they eliminated access to the internet and removed games from the computers CS would have no problem getting their work done in a timely fashion. Just look at how many posts and hits this website has everyday. That tells me that if your taking work home you need to quit playing during duty hours Dan ketter Posted July 15, 2008 11:06 AM
• I do agree that EVERYONE should be trained on the requirements of teleworking. I know many folks who take work home without the boss’s knowledge or consent. That is normally the direct result of hearing “I need that first thing tomorrow morning!” at 1545 hours. I’ve even seen people at work with their government desktop going full stride and their personal laptop sitting along side processing at the same speed, all on a government work requirement. Due to the unscheduled nature of many such unauthorized hours (mostly well-intentioned, even if still illegal hours), once more, every government worker who touches a computer needs this training. Even more so, to build on the government software procurement site licenses, every civilian laptop should be rotated through their organization’s IT section for the necessary securing and setup; WITH THE TECHNICIAN EXPLAINING THE PROCEDURE TO THE OWNER! This would enhance the training and provide an educated user for the technician should questions or problems arise. Having said all that, I already anticipate a number of responses (if anyone out there really cares) stating the various laws, labor constraints, etc that would prevent this from happening. Well, I have one little question for y’all; Am I right or wrong that practically each and every one of you has either done this form of overtime or seen it done? Well, there is right, wrong, and then there is reality; and sometimes you just have to go with reality. Tip off Posted July 10, 2008 1:47 PM