Security research company Goode Intelligence has published headline figures from its 2010 Mobile Security Survey, revealing that 64% of organisations don’t encrypt the company data they allow employees to store on their smartphones.
In addition, 44% of organisations surveyed don’t have a documented, specific security policy for mobile phones.
Goode Intelligence says the majority of information security professionals felt they understood mobile security. According to the survey only 32% felt their awareness level regarding mSecurity was inadequate, a significant improvement from almost 90% in 2009. However, general awareness by end-users hasn’t improved, with 68% saying they felt that there was no general employee awareness for mSecurity.
Alan Goode, founder and Managing Director of Goode Intelligence, said “Smartphones and tablet computers are having a transformational effect on the way that an organisation does business and manages information. There is a big question over whether information security professionals can keep up with the pace of change currently seen with smart mobile devices and if they can manage the risks associated with them. Smartphones, media players and tablet computers running a variety of mobile platforms have exploded into organisations around the world and there is enormous pressure on information security and IT functions to business-enable these ‘consumer’ devices. In 2009 the iPad didn’t exist yet just one year later our survey shows that some 40% of organisations are seeing iPad adoption – this is a remarkable figure and quite possibly unprecedented.”