One of the most basic things you need to consider when doing business online is that the World Wide Web is an open arena with no established security. Once you have learned to appreciate that the inte ... [Read more]
Many companies allow employees to bring smartphones, tablets and other personal devices to work with them. According to a new survey from IT risk & compliance company Coalfire, employers might be putting their businesses at risk with casual bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.“The weekly hype about data breaches and different companies being compromised is astounding,” Mike Weber, the Managing Director of Coalfire Labs, wrote when announcing the results of the survey. “We were taken back by the lack of simple defenses companies should be using to protect themselves.”
Coalfire surveyed 400 individuals about workplace BYOD policies and practices. 84 percent of respondents used the same mobile devices at work and at home. 47 percent accessed secure company data on smartphones but didn’t have any password whatsoever to protect their devices from unauthorized access.Many respondents indicated a general ignorance of good mobile/cyber security practices. 46 percent of respondents had never discussed Internet security with their companies’ IT departments. 18 percent of respondents worked at companies with no IT departments and 8 percent weren’t sure if they’d ever discussed cybersecurity or mobile security at work. That means that only a quarter of surveyed respondents had a working knowledge of good IT security procedures.
Coalfire’s survey also shows that the vast majority of businesses don’t have established BYOD policies. Only 37 percent of respondents worked at companies with well-established policies, while 26 percent were unsure of whether their companies had official policies.The real alarming news is that most companies are unable to wipe mobile devices remotely if the devices are lost or stolen. Only 21 percent of respondents said that their companies had this ability.“The majority of individuals are still using “unsafe” methods when it comes to mobile device security,” Weber wrote, “But more importantly, very little is being done by companies to safeguard this problem.”
