The
number of personal mobile devices connecting to the corporate network has more
than doubled in the past two years—with nearly half of devices storing
sensitive data, according to a report from security specialist Check Point
Software Technologies.
The
report, "The Impact of Mobile Devices on Information Security," shows
71 percent of businesses believe mobile devices have caused an increase in
security incidents, citing significant concerns about the loss and privacy of
sensitive information stored on employee devices, including corporate email (79
percent), customer data (47 percent) and network log-in credentials (38
percent).
Approximately
94 percent of businesses surveyed have an increased number of personal mobile
devices connecting to the corporate network, with 78 percent of respondents
seeing the number of devices more than double in the last two years. Apple (30
percent) and BlackBerry (29 percent) were the most common types of mobile
devices connecting to corporate networks, followed by Android (21 percent).
Nearly half of respondents (43 percent) also believe Android devices pose a
larger security risk to the mobile enterprise.
“The
consumerization of IT is among the top concerns for CIOs this coming year, and
we wanted to assess from IT administrators the current security challenges they
face when it comes to mobile computing,” said Juliette Sultan, head of global
marketing at Check Point. “The explosion of mobile devices connecting to the
corporate network often creates greater opportunities for data loss and
increased security management complexity. We anticipate this trend will
continue to rise in 2012, encouraging enterprises to enforce the proper remote
access policies to minimize the frequency, risk and costs associated with
securing the mobile enterprise.”
The
majority of businesses believe the lack of security awareness among employees is
the greatest factor impacting mobile data—followed by mobile Web browsing (61
percent), insecure WiFi connectivity (59 percent), lost or stolen devices (58
percent), and malicious mobile application downloads (57 percent).
Approximately
71 percent of businesses believe smartphones and tablet PCs have contributed to
an increase in the number of security events in their organizations within the
past two years. Personal and corporate-owned devices often store and access a
variety of sensitive information, including email (79 percent), customer data
(47 percent) and log-in credentials (38 percent) for internal databases or
business applications.