App Fatigue is a Security Issue

How many different apps do you use every day? It may be hard to get an accurate count because we don’t tend to think of some things as apps. So, if you count them up and forget your internet browser, your count is short.

The fact is, we are all swimming in apps, and they continue to increase exponentially. The problem is: we are all swimming with sharks, and they are waiting to strike at the first sight of a vulnerability. This applies to both mobile and network apps, as well as web tools.

In an average company, departments regularly use about 40-60 different digital tools, with 71% of employees feeling that they juggle so many apps that it adds an uncomfortable level of complexity to their work.

Many of the apps that we use every day send us various alerts from time to time. We get a ‘ping’ when someone mentions our name on a Teams channel. We get notification popups when an update is available. We get alerts concerning errors or security issues.

It’s time to realize that not only is app fatigue a very real thing, but it’s also becoming a problem for Cybersecurity. When employees get overwhelmed by notifications, they start to ignore them, and the policies and procedures (P&P) that rule over them.

Take stock of the various digital alerts that you get:

Software apps on your computer

Web-based SaaS tools

Websites where you’ve allowed alerts

Mobile apps and tools

Email banners

Text messages

Team communication tools

When employees are getting the same notification on two different devices, this just adds to the problem, leading to a number of issues that directly impact Cybersecurity and overall productivity.

And the aggravating ‘cherry on top’ of this tedious sundae is the deluge of passwords we have to juggle. Every time the boss introduces a new app, that means you have to come up with a new password. On average, employees are already juggling about 191 passwords, according to ‘DarkReading.’ They use at least 154 of them sometime during the month.

How App Fatigue Puts Companies at Risk

Updates get Ignored

When a digital alert interrupts an employee’s work it’s a nuisance, and workers can feel like they are slowing them down, putting them further behind in their duties. This will often lead to users ignoring small tasks seen as not being time sensitive - tasks like clicking to install an app update – especially when an update requires a system reboot. Let’s face a simple fact: nobody likes to have to reboot!

While it may be human nature to ignore this constant flow of alerts, doing so is dangerous! Those updates are there for a reason, yet when they come up, frustrated workers may quickly click them away, feeling that they can’t spare the time right now and aren’t sure how long it will take.

There are important security patches that defend against newly found vulnerabilities in many of those updates. When they’re not installed, the device and its network move to a higher risk level. It then becomes easier to suffer a successful cyberattack.

Weak Passwords Used Multiple Times Spells Trouble

Effective password security can be another casualty of app fatigue. The more SaaS accounts someone must create, the more likely they are to reuse passwords. According to a Google poll in January of this year, 52% of US adults reuse passwords for some of their accounts, while 1 in 8 use the same password for all of their online accounts. Other sources have reported that as many as 85% of people reuse passwords across multiple sites.

One of the main starting points of cloud data breaches is cracking user credentials. Weak passwords are easily cracked. The same password used several times leaves many accounts at risk – cracking one password affords hackers multiple entry points into a network.

Employees May Turn Off Alerts

It’s okay to turn off minor notifications. Do you really need to know every time someone responds to a group thread, or just when they ‘@name’ you? But turning off important security alerts is risky.

Like the straw that broke the camel’s back, there can come a breaking point when one more alert can push someone over the edge. “With an exclamation like “ENOUGH of this crap!” they may turn off all the alerts they can across all apps. The problem with this is that in the mix of alerts are important ones, like an anti-malware app warning about a newly found virus.

App Fatigue: What is the Answer?

It’s not advisable or even realistic to turn office procedures back to a time before all these apps became entwined in our work, but you can put a strategy in place that puts people in charge of their tech, and not the other way around.

Streamline Your Business Applications

Audit your apps. Does anybody really need all of them? From both a productivity and security standpoint, fewer apps are better. The fewer apps you have, the less risk. Also, the fewer passwords to remember and notifications to address.

Using the tools that enable you to see where redundancies may be. Many companies are using two or more apps that can do the same function. Why?

It’s a great idea to use an umbrella platform like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. These platforms include a good number of work tools, but users only need a single login to access them.

Have Your IT Support Set up and Prioritize Notifications

Most users don’t know which types of notifications are the most important, so your IT services team should set up their app notifications for them. This ensures they aren’t bombarded while they are still getting the important ones.

Automate Application Updates

Automating device and software updates is a best practice in Cybersecurity. Just take the employees out of the process entirely. This enhances productivity by removing the distraction of alerts about updates.

Automating device updates through an IT Managed Services solution improves security. It also mitigates the chance that there will be a vulnerable app putting your network at risk.

Encourage Two-Way Communication About Alerts

It’s not unusual for employees to be afraid that they might get in trouble for turning off alerts, and managers may not be aware how much constant app alert interruptions are hurting productivity.

Talk to your employees and let them know they can communicate with you. Discuss how to use alerts effectively, as well as the best ways to manage alerts for a better and more productive workday.