Mobile Workforce Report Q4 2010: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 |Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7
Section 4: Personal Devices and Risk
When employees use personal devices for work, they often unknowingly open their companies’ business data to certain risks. Considering that an estimated 70 percent corporate data now lies on mobile devices (which IT may not be aware of) this introduces a significant amount of risk to enterprises. Muddling the distinction between financial and legal liability is not an approach that will enable enterprises to retain control of their corporate data. It is important that these devices are secured – regardless of the platform and applications – otherwise IT and PR departments will need to scramble with contingency and repercussion plans.
In this section, we looked at what devices employees were using that weren’t supported by their IT departments, including smartphones and tablets. We also wanted to find out if anything bad had happened to their smartphones with business data – specifically if they had been hacked, contracted a virus, or were lost or stolen. And although underreported by the media, 18.2 percent of mobile employees had already experienced a relevant security issue. More surprising, younger workers were more likely to lose or have their smartphones with business data on them stolen. Considering that this age group is also the most likely to use a personally provided device, this has now become a major enterprise security issue.
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Personal Devices Used for Work
Beyond the smartphone, we wanted to find out what personal technologies employees were using for work that were not supported by their IT departments. We found that 58.2 percent of mobile employees had used a personal device for work. We found no significant differences between age groups on whether they had used a device not supported by their IT departments.
Figure 22: What device have you used for work that is not supported by IT?
When Bad Things Happen to Good Smartphones
While most mobile employees reported that nothing bad had happened to their smartphones with business data on it, 14.3 percent of mobile employees had their smartphones either lost or stolen, 3.9 percent had had their smartphones hacked or contracted a virus, and 16.0 percent had their smartphones damaged or broken.
Figure 23: What was the worst thing that ever happened to your smartphone containing business data?
Younger workers (22.9 percent) and those with un-provisioned smartphones (20 percent) were more likely to have had a smartphone with business data on it lost or stolen versus the general mobile worker population. Security experts point to lost or stolen smartphones as the enterprise’s biggest security risk, especially if the employees don’t report the loss to their companies so the data can be wiped. Considering that the 22 to 34 year old age group is more likely to use a non-company smartphone, this has become a significant security problem for many companies.
Figure 24: What was the worst thing that ever happened to your smartphone containing business data? (By age group.)
Mobile Workforce Report Q4 2010: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7
