Complimentary conference passes available. See end of this article for details.
Nearly daily reports of lost or stolen mobile devices containing sensitive data have heightened awareness of the need to secure mobile devices of all types (e.g., notebooks, personal digital assistants, smart phone converged devices, portable storage devices, etc.). Indeed, data escaping the company boundaries and thus exposing customer records, financial information, personnel files, etc., are not only damaging to a company’s reputation, but also can lead to real financial loss through lawsuits, regulatory fines, customer retention failures, loss of good will, etc. The lack of sufficient mobile security has reached epidemic proportions that companies must rectify quickly if they are to remain in control of their most precious asset: corporate data. Failure to do so will cause companies great harm and ultimately, may even lead to their failure.
If security is breached at your company, will you even know? Many companies have lost data that has gone unnoticed and/or unreported. Is your company one of them? While the risk of a security breach is high, the good news is that there are many ways for companies to mitigate the risks and provide a safe environment for their data while taking into consideration the diverse needs of an increasingly mobile workforce, and this can be accomplished at a reasonable cost and without any extreme effort required from an already burdened IT organization. With data loss on the rise, penalties increasing, and a growing proliferation of mandates and regulations from state and federal governments almost assured, now is the time for companies to take action to formulate and deploy a mobile security strategy.
Nearly every company of virtually any size, from the huge multinational corporation to the small to medium business, is at risk of security breach as a result of the increasing use of mobile technology. We expect more than 50 percent of enterprise computers being deployed to end users to be notebooks within two to three years. Companies are rapidly transitioning from their current fixed desktop devices due to an increasingly mobile and diverse workforce, which often is not located within the physical brick-and-mortar boundaries of a traditional company setting. Further, we expect more than 85 percent of knowledge workers to acquire a smart device (e.g., smart phone converged device) within the next two to three years as the usefulness of these devices increases beyond simply phone calls and e-mail and becomes more computer-like and applications friendly. This process is accelerating as prices decline, with devices of substantial capability available at under $200 and as devices become more integrated into corporate back-office systems (e.g., sales applications, CRM, field forces, asset tracking, expense reporting, order placement/query, business intelligence, etc.).
Despite this dramatic increase in mobile devices, we see a substantial shortfall in many companies in both awareness and in concrete actions taken to minimize or eliminate mobile security threats and risk. Indeed, our research indicates that less than 10 percent of companies currently deploy mobile security suites although such security suites have been shown to be highly effective in stemming data loss. And even fewer provide mobile device antivirus to anything other than laptops. Finally, few companies (less than 5 percent) are enabling VPN connectivity to non-Windows smart devices for mobile workers despite their substantial growth among users. And virtually no companies deploy mitigation strategies to limit “data leakage” due to the proliferation of low cost and readily available portable storage devices such as iPods and flash drives.
Although no security scheme is completely foolproof, companies deploying mobile security properly report dramatically fewer data exposure issues than those that do not. Further, companies must enforce security policies on users who are often lax in their “personal security hygiene.” Indeed, our research indicates that left to their own initiative, less than 5 percent of users employ even such minimal security processes as turning on password protection for their mobile devices. And significantly less than 5 percent of companies monitor and/or trace corporate data as it makes its way from the data center to the individual users and their devices. Is it any wonder then that so many mobile data breeches occur?
Complimentary Conference Pass
Jack Gold is also the Chairman of the Mobile Security Conference headed to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, October 30-31, 2007. Register for the showcase, free of charge, using Jack’s guest priority code GUEST. Qualified IT professionals will receive a complimentary conference pass.
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Jack E. Gold is an acknowledged industry expert in wireless and mobility and President of J.Gold Associates, an industry analyst firm providing research, analysis, and consulting services. He can be reached at [email protected].