Is Android offering more security risks to enterprises than Apple, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry?
A Check Point survey revealed that 49 percent of businesses cited Android as the platform with greatest perceived security risk (up from 30 percent last year), compared to Apple, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry.
Android’s security threats will go up as the Android OS is growing better than Apple iOS. ABI Research says though Apple, the iPad maker, exited the first calendar quarter of 2013 with 50 percent share of all tablet shipments, the Android ecosystem is poised to overtake iOS.
“It’s inevitable that Android tablets will overtake iOS-powered slates, though we see no single vendor challenging Apple’s dominance anytime soon,” said ABI Research senior practice director Jeff Orr. “With media tablets commercially available for more than 4 years, momentum is shifting toward value and affordability, putting tablets in more of the population’s reach.”
The Check Point mobile security report says 79 percent IT professionals faced mobile security incident in the past year.
Tomer Teller, security evangelist and researcher at Check Point Software Technologies, said: “An effective mobile security strategy will focus on protecting corporate information on the multitude of devices and implementing proper secure access controls to information and applications on the go. Equally important is educating employees about best practices as majority of businesses are more concerned with careless employees than cybercriminals.”
Among companies that allow personal mobile devices, 96 percent say the number of personal devices connecting to their corporate networks is growing, and 45 percent have more than five times as many personal mobile devices as they had two years ago.
52 percent of large businesses report mobile security incidents have amounted to more than $500,000 in the past year. Even for 45 percent of SMBs with less than 1000 employees, mobile security incidents exceeded $100,000 in the past year.
Despite costly mobile incidents, 63 percent of businesses do not manage corporate information on personal devices, and 93 percent face challenges adopting BYOD policies.
53 percent of all businesses surveyed report there is sensitive customer information on mobile devices, up from 47 percent last year, Check Point’s mobile security report said.
The research findings are based on a survey of nearly 800 IT professionals.
Smartphones and tablet devices have become increasingly attractive to cyber criminals as mobile device users are careless about the security of their device and remain unaware of potential breaches to their privacy.
A global survey of 3,000 consumers by McAfee and One Poll reveals that a third of people don’t protect their mobile phone or tablet with a PIN or password. Most consumers seem largely unconcerned about keeping data on their mobile devices safe.
Only one in five respondents has backed up the data on their phone and tablet in case it’s stolen. More than one in ten (15 percent) save password information on their phone, risking misuse of personal information such as bank details and online store logins.
