A new survey done on mobility risks has revealed the information that corporate mobile devices and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon are rapidly circumventing enterprise security and policies. Seventy-seven percent of more than 4,000 respondents in 12 countries agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. But 76 percent also believe that these devices put their organizations at risk—and only 39 percent have the necessary security controls to address the risk.

Tom Clare, senior director of Product Marketing Management has stated that IT has spent years working on desktop security and trying to prevent data loss over web and email channels, but mobile devices are radically changing the game now. 

He further added, Tablets and iOS devices are replacing corporate laptops as employees bring-their-own-devices to work and access corporate information. These devices open the door to unprecedented loss of sensitive data. IT needs to be concerned about the data that mobile devices access and not the device itself.

According to a previous Ponemon Institute survey, IT respondents said 63 percent of breaches occurred as a result of mobile devices. And only 28 percent said employee desktop computers were the cause. 

To the reader’s surprise, more than 4,600 IT and IT security practitioners in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States were surveyed. With an average of 10 years’ experience in the field, fifty-four percent are supervisors (or above) and 42 percent are from organizations with more than 5,000 employees. 

The survey defines mobile devices as laptops, USB drives, smartphones, and tablets. Other key findings include: 

1. Fifty-nine percent of respondents report that employees circumvent or disengage security 

2.  Seventy-seven percent of respondents agree that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives. A similar percentage (76 percent) believes that these tools put their organizations at risk. Only 39 percent have the necessary security controls to address the risk, and only 45 percent have enforceable policies.

3.   Insecure mobile devices increase rates of malware infections. Fifty-nine percent of respondents say that over the past 12 months, their organizations experienced an increase in malware infections as a result of insecure mobile devices in the workplace, with another 25 percent unsure.

4.  Sixty-five percent of respondents are most concerned with employees taking photos or videos in the workplace—probably due to fears about the theft or exposure of confidential information. Other unacceptable uses include downloading and using internet apps (44 percent) and using personal email accounts (43 percent). Forty-two percent say that downloading confidential data onto devices (USB or Bluetooth) is not acceptable in their organizations. 

ITVoir NewsDesk