How has cyber technology created opportunities for workplace deviance?

Modern technology has enabled many workers to engage in workplace deviance by making it easier to waste time, enabling insider threats, compromising company security controls, and creating large amounts of shadow technology.

1. Time mismanagement: The proliferation of modern smart devices that are loaded with dark features and social media services designed to create addictive tendencies has meant a significant rise in distractions for the modern worker. Cellular devices allow personal life to reach us at work and break down the traditional work-life barrier that used to exist. This means that many workers are engaged in personal activities on company time and are not engaged in work related activities. Social media sites are also designed to create addiction cycles and this can make the distractions worse. Finally, these devices generally have independent internet connections, so network based controls are easily circumvented by simply switching WiFi off on the device. As a result, productivity should drop at work.
2. Enabling insider threats: Cyber technology has also increased the risk and effectiveness of insider attacks as these devices can act as independent storage and exfiltration devices and often require a court order to forcibly seize.
3. Compromising company security controls: Due to their ability to disconnect and reconnect to the corporate network at will, personal smart devices are easily able to circumvent corporate controls on both content and security. These devices provide an uncontrolled source of compromise and data exfiltration.
4. Shadow technology: Smart devices pose a risk because personal devices are not generally enrolled in mobile device management solutions and this means that the IT department does not have a way to track them. Smart phones alone generally have manufacturer security patches and device-level security controls that make them less of a risk, but there is a growing network of devices such as smart watches, smart earbuds, personal assistant devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Nest that many employees may bring to work and use. These IoT devices are often not nearly as secure as their cell phone counterparts and are often an afterthought to both employees and IT departments.