A global survey of 6,000 consumers commissioned by Juniper Networks found that although there is an awareness of security issues among smartphone and tablet PC users, there’s a huge gap between being concerned about those issues and doing something to protect themselves. When shopping for new mobile devices, a growing number of consumers are taking security features into account, but less than a quarter of consumers are actually taking advantage of those security options. According to Mark Bauhaus, executive vice president and general manager Juniper’s Service Layer Technologies Business Group, smartphones and tablets are a new on-ramp to information, applications commerce, but they’re also opening users up to security threats. The good news is users are more security aware than they used to be. The bad news? They’re engaging in risky behaviour on their mobile devices that could make them and their employers vulnerable to attack or identity theft.
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Personal and business use
Almost 44 percent of respondents use their devices for both personal and business use, with less than 4 percent using their devices strictly for business.
Those sneaky end-users
Of the surveyed end-users, 81 percent admitted to using their mobile devices to access their employers’ networks without permission. In fact, 58 percent do it every day.
Unauthorized access in America
52 percent of Americans admitted to unauthorized access of an employers’ network using a smartphone or tablet.
Concerns are high
Device loss and identity theft are both big concerns, with 58 percent saying they fear losing their mobile devices and 64 percent are extremely or very concerned about identity theft because of lost devices.
Americans least concerned
The U.S. was the least concerned of all the countries surveyed. 43 percent said they were concerned about phone/data loss, 43 percent expressed concern over parental controls, and 46 percent admitted concern related to identity theft.
But users don’t manage security themselves
Juniper found a gap between the level of security users want and what they manage themselves. Of the end-users surveyed, 41 percent said security is a top priority in selecting a mobile device, but only 24 percent frequently change their devices’ security settings.
Passwords, shmasswords
Fourteen percent of respondents said their devices are not password-protected.
Risky behavior at work
Smartphones and tablets are used by 76 percent of consumers to access sensitive personal or business information. In fact, 51 percent use such devices to enter or modify passwords, 43 percent use them to access online banking, 30 percent to access utilities, 20 percent to share financial information, 18 percent to access business proprietary information, 17 percent to access medical records, and 16 percent to share social security numbers.
Security is less of a concern in U.S. and Japan
The U.S. was tied was for Japan as being the least concerned about security issues.
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