Data security is a huge factor in mobile apps for business. What's the greatest mobile security risk at your company? Is mobile hardware? Mobile apps? The mobile network your employees use to access the Internet?
Likely it's none of those things. Instead, it's probably your employees. And the biggest risk of all, says a new study from Aruba Networks, is "the new and rising mobile generation --- #GenMobile."
The study, "Securing #GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk," warns that "Businesses are actually ill- prepared for the high-risk, security-indifferent mind-set of the #GenMobile workforce, creating alarming disparity in security practices around the corporate world." Information security requires more than encrypting data over the network. Employees need to be made aware of their role in keeping data secure.
More than 11,500 employees in 23 countries were surveyed about their mobile use, especially concerning security for mobile applications, and their answers paint a worrisome picture. Some 60% said that they let others regularly use their work and personal smartphones. Almost a third of them admitted to losing data due to misuse of a mobile device.
In Security for Mobile Applications, Age Matters
The survey also found that there is a generation gap between younger and older workers when it comes to security practices. Those over the age of 55 are half as likely to have been a victim of identity theft or the loss of personal or client data compared to younger employees. Those between 25 and 34 are the most likely to have been victimized in that way.
Ironically, the personality traits that helps people succeed may be the ones that put corporations most at risk when it comes to security. More than half of workers (56%) say they would be willing to disobey their bosses if that will help them get their work done. And a full 77% "are willing to perform self-service IT."
Companies are making things harder on themselves because of their lax mobile security policies. More than a third of companies surveyed -- 37% -- haven't set up a basic mobile security policy.
Most at risk are high-tech companies, whose employees, the report says, " are nearly two times (46%) more likely than hospitality or education workers to simply give up their device password if asked for it by IT."
Read the press release here, or download the full report here. You can also use an online Security Risk Index tool to get a rough idea over how your company stands in mobile security.
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