Brits no longer base their holiday location around beautiful scenery, sandy beaches and family excursions, today what we value most is WiFi access and the majority of Brit’s admit that hotels not offering internet connectivity are no longer an option, a new study from ESET has revealed.

The study looked at the attitudes of 1000 employed UK consumers and revealed that over a third (34 percent) will determine their hotel choice based on WiFi. This is so that the majority of respondents can check emails and keep in touch with the office while away. Other findings revealed that 44 percent of respondents will be taking their work-enabled mobile device on holiday this year, and that over a fifth will be checking their work emails on a daily basis. Despite these findings, 36 percent of respondents admitted that checking emails will actually make them feel more stressed, rather than relaxed during their break.  

In response to the survey findings, Mark James, a security expert at ESET UK, said: “Holidays used to be a time for us to escape the office, relax and spend time with our families, however our survey reveals that in today’s hyper-connected world Brits want to be online and available at all times. While in the past holidays used to be a time to break away from everything, today it seems holidays can be ruined if vacationers are not provided with a strong internet-connection.” The survey also revealed that 67 percent of respondents will carry work-related data on the mobile device they take on holiday; however over a third admit to having no security on the device what-so-ever to protect the data. In addition to this, 35 percent of respondents admitted that they don’t check or care if the WiFi network they connect to while on holiday is secure and private. This could ultimately put corporate data at risk of cybercriminals and theft.

“The unfortunate reality is that employees don’t seem to worry about how secure the information on their mobile device is when they are on holiday, and could therefore be putting sensitive data at risk. However, what employees must realise is that when they access corporate information from a mobile device, whether it’s personal or company owned, and it’s misplaced then the corporate data it contains is at risk and no-one cares if you were on ‘a break’. My advice to organisations is to recognise that staff may work while on holiday and therefore take appropriate security precautions. This could include implementing security on all devices which contain corporate data and providing guidelines around connecting over public WiFi networks,” continued James.