The research exposes the inadequate level of mobile device protection offered by most mainstream endpoint security providers who have failed to keep pace with market requirements and the subsequent threat this has created for businesses who are unwittingly exposed to cybercriminals.
Highlighted within the report is how businesses must urgently prioritise securing user mobility outside the traditional perimeter and cites the Cyber adAPT platform as providing the missing security layer that the majority of enterprise mobility management (EMM) deployments lack.
This report expands on research from earlier this year, conducted with more than 4,500 respondents across 20 geographic markets. Respondents show that 47 per cent of employees use their own smartphone to access corporate data, 25 per cent use their own tablet, and 8 percent are now experimenting with wearables to keep up to date with work-related issues.
Analyst Andrew Kellett of Ovum states, “This report shows that we are waking up to a new work-life paradigm, and one that isn’t well enough supported by yesterday’s notions of security. People expect to be highly connected, with unrestricted access to business systems and this is the new challenge for security platform vendors.”
The research also shows that 62 per cent of respondents are using two or more mobile devices for work daily and less than 30 per cent of them have any device management or security functionality on those devices.
Kellett continues, “It is essential that businesses embrace security outside of the traditional perimeter, rather than treat it as an extension of a Windows-first endpoint protection strategy.”
“Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) have been treating mobile like any other endpoint, building up their perimeters with point solutions from desktop legacy providers,” says Cyber adAPT chief technology officer, Scott Millis. “This often frustrates users with aggravating experiences and leaves the business open to very specialized mobile attacks. Highly secure mobility is invisible at the point of use and because it is built to operate around their behavior, empowers them to conduct their business wherever they are.”
