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The realities of mobile security

• Tags:
• Personnel,
• Malware,
• Loss,
• Measures

Cath Everett ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 25 Oct 2007 13:05 BST

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...the physical security of the devices themselves to be a "very important" matter because of their high cost. More than 85 percent took each of these issues seriously and considered each one to be of importance.

The most worrying individual threat for respondents, however, was losing information when a device storing sensitive corporate data or emails was mislaid or stolen, with 84 percent of respondents deeming this to be a "very important" issue.

Unauthorised access by third parties to communications and company-sensitive data was considered equally worrying by 60 percent of respondents, while the loss or theft of mobile devices that could be used to access the corporate network was next on the list, at 58 percent.

Other anxieties included threats posed to the internal network by malware, corruption of company data held on the network and the theft or inappropriate access of corporate information by employees.

"The small size and portability of mobile devices make them highly vulnerable to loss or theft. When this happens, it is important that strong access controls and data-protection measures are in place to protect against unauthorised data, network and email access, as well as other inappropriate communications," said Paskins.

The loss of data, such as files and contact lists, stored on the devices themselves can also cause big problems, Paskins added.

As to what measures organisations are introducing to protect themselves against these hazards, the most popular options were firewall and antivirus/anti-spam software, which are deployed by more than two-thirds of respondents across all sectors and size of company.

Just over half of those questioned have also introduced wireless LAN encryption, probably due to the popularity of wireless networks in companies of all sizes, while 50 percent have gone for data-replication and backup technologies, as well as data-encryption products for virtual private networks. Adoption in each of these areas is expected to take place among an additional eight percent of the installed base over the next two years.

But growth rates are expected to be significantly higher in newer technology areas, such as two-factor authentication (19 percent of respondents said they use it now, but a further 20 percent plan to do so in the next two years), compliance control (21 percent use it now, with 14 percent adopting by 2009) and remote monitoring systems (a third use it now, and 12 percent plan to use it in two years' time).

These offerings tend to be used mainly by larger enterprises, however, and the smaller the company is in size, the less likely it is to deploy them.

"The proliferation of mobile devices in use brings with it a number of security concerns, so the need for organisations to adopt policies and put specific measures in place to counter these threats and vulnerabilities is compelling," said Paskins.

Of the 371 executives that took part in the survey, about 30 percent worked in large corporates with more than 1,000 staff; 29 percent were employed by small to medium-sized enterprises with between 11 and 250 employees; 23 percent had one to 10 personnel; 13 percent had a headcount of between 251 and 1,000; and the rest did not know.

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