While the trend of employees using their own mobile devices for work purposes is expected to intensify further in 2014, a recent survey indicates that workers are still doing almost nothing to protect their mobile devices and in not doing so are risking their workplace.
The survey, conducted by Coalfire for the second consecutive year on the topic of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, revealed an ongoing lack of security with smartphones and tablets used to access company data.
The report indicates that the majority of those surveyed (86 percent) use the same smartphone for personal and work tasks. At the same time, 47% have no pass-code on their mobile device and 36% make use of a single password for all digital access.
The survey, based on 400 workers in North America who are not affiliated with their company’s IT department, indicates that companies are not educating employees on mobile device security to help protect company data.
“The results demonstrate that businesses are still not using effective methods to protect critical infrastructure. Although new developments are regularly coming to the market to help protect corporate data, the main concern is still human error,” said Rick Dakin, CEO and chief security strategist with Coalfire.
“Security awareness training for tablet and smartphone users should be a top priority for all organizations,” he added.
Other key findings show that 61% write down passwords on a piece of paper, 44% said their company does have a mobile device usage policy and 34% stated their companies do not have the ability to remotely wipe data from mobile devices if they are locked, lost or stolen.
