Due to their expanded functionality, smartphones have become far more than a simple means of communication
Due to their expanded functionality, smartphones have become far more than a simple means of communication. Today they are fully-featured work tools, often used by employees to access corporate information. This, of course, presents risks – yet 33% of companies allow their staff unrestricted access to corporate resources from their smartphones. This alarming statistic was revealed by a survey conducted by B2B International in July 2012.
38% of companies apply some kind of restriction on smartphone use: these include bans on access to certain network resources. A further 19% have a complete ban on the use of mobile devices for work activities. But only 11% of companies currently use Mobile Device Management (MDM) software to ensure compliance with corporate security policies.
Another trend on the rise among organizations is that of “Bring Your Own Device” which could be a PC, smartphone or tablet. Dangerously, the survey shows many companies place no restrictions on these even though 34% of those surveyed think that the use of personal devices presents a threat for business, and another 55% frequently think about how to reduce the risk. This increased focus on mobile devices from IT specialists is probably explained by the fact that 23% said they had faced the loss of business data due to the loss or theft of mobile devices.
Despite the risks connected to storing work-related information on personal devices, only 9% of companies are planning to introduce a strict ban on their usage in the future. Interestingly, 36% of the IT specialists surveyed are sure that, irrespective of any new measures, the number of user devices in the workplace will only increase.
Blanket bans are not the only way of protecting against data leakage through personal mobile devices. Kaspersky Lab offers corporate protection solutions for laptops under Windows, Linux and MacOS, and for smartphones and other devices, each designed to tackle the specifics of the device in question. For more information on the capacities of these programs and the latest news on Kaspersky Lab’s corporate solutions please visit http://www.kaspersky.com/beready/business-solutions.
The full version of the report on the results of the survey conducted by B2B International in July 2012 is available at http://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/pdf/kaspersky_global_it-security-risks-survey_report_eng_final.pdf
