Employees routinely connect to their offices and access business information on smart phone devices. This has led to unprecedented productivity, as employees remain continuously connected anywhere. A smart phone is a mobile phone that provides more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a basic feature phone.
What is a smart phone or tablet device?
Smart phones are effectively hand held computers integrated with a mobile telephone. A tablet device is a portable personal computer with a touch screen as the main input device. Tablet devices may use virtual keyboards and handwriting recognition for text input through the touch screen and have a wireless adapter for Internet and local network connection.
As well as running operating system software which provides a platform for application developers, smart phones and tablet devices allow the user to install and run more advanced applications – opening the door for potential cyber criminals and other security issues.
Smart phones are therefore inherently insecure devices, so it is imperative that users and employers learn about the risks and take steps to avoid them. New research has highlighted these security concerns, not only with smart phones but also tablet devices, with over 80% of users surveyed admitting unauthorised use of their employer’s networks.
Bernadette Irinco, technical communications official with Trend Micro said "As mobile phones become more Web-based and as users more heavily rely on them to conduct their day-to-day business, potential risks brought about by phishing and other Web threats will become more rampant."
Unauthorised use of employer networks
A world wide research study conducted by global market research firm KRC Research and Synovate on behalf of network innovation specialists Juniper Networks has highlighted an urgent need for improvements to mobile security.
The survey, of 16,000 consumers across sixteen countries, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, China, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, indicated that the once clear lines between the personal and business use of mobile devices has become complex, with many users admitting breaches of their employers policies.
Smart phone and tablet device security concerns
The number of business users also making personal use of smart phone and tablet devices has risen to almost 44%. Four out of five people surveyed cite security as a top or high priority when buying and more than half are concerned about the consequences of losing their mobile devices.
In particular, users are anxious about the security of personal information, as nearly three out of four people surveyed rely on their smart phone or tablet devices to share or access personal and business information which could be damaging if it fell into the wrong hands. Examples include personal banking details, medical records and social security numbers.
Risks of smart phone and tablet devices for employers
Data loss prevention is one of the biggest concerns for employers today. If the issue of safeguarding confidential business data from loss or inadvertent transmission was not serious enough, there is the added threat of large fines from the ICO for personal data breaches. Less that 4% of the users in the survey used their smart phone and tablet devices exclusively for business purposes and a significant majority admit using them to access their employer's network without permission – with more than half doing so on a daily basis.
Loss of valuable data
Although many smart phone and tablet device users accepted that they have concerns about being able to recover important the data and information if their smart phone and tablet devices was lost of stolen, they do not seem ready to deal with the problem. Only 24% of respondents confirmed that they regularly check and change security settings with 31% admitting that they rarely or never change them and a worrying 14% of respondents say their smart phone and tablet device is not password protected and 9% admitting they do not even know how to do it.
Global smart phone security problem
Sixteen countries participated in the survey with India (90%) showing the highest level of user concern about mobile security, with Brazil and Russia (88% each), Germany (86%) and China and Italy (both at 85%) not far behind. Users in the US and Japan (77% each) were the least concerned. Interestingly, the country with the highest personal use was Canada (72%) and Japan (70%).
Belgium and the Netherlands revealed the highest business-only use at 12%. Password protection levels were poorest in the US, with 25% reporting not being password protected, compared with only 8% and 6% in India and Singapore. This may be because users in the US were the least concerned about smart phone data loss or identity theft.
Smart phone security solutions
Many phones use RSA encryption for authentication. Most of the antivirus vendors, including Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and Kaspersky have long offered security solutions for smart phones but few cover all the available platforms. As manufacturers increase processing power and storage capacity, the security threat to these devices will increase at the same rate.
The only sure way for businesses to deal with smart phone and tabled device security issues is to develop and effective policy, then ensure 100% compliance. This should include proper risk assessment of the level of exposure faced by the organisation, backed up by a range of mitigation measures including awareness raising and education.
Tony Riches - Based in west Wales in the UK, I am a published Author and full time writer Follow me on twitter @tonyriches and visit my blogs: The ...
