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Webroot: 'Disconnect' Between Employers, Workers Over Mobile Security
Webroot today released a new security report that highlights the disparities between IT practices and employee preferences related to bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.
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Webroot today published a new report that examines the "disconnect" between employers and workers regarding bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.
Antivirus software provider Webroot today published a new report that examines the “disconnect” between employers and workers regarding bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.
Webroot’s report, Fixing the Disconnect Between Employer and Employee for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), reports there is “a large disconnect between how employees are using mobile security and the ways that organizations are implementing BYOD.”
Researchers said they believed many employers and workers do not take adequate steps to protect company information, which ultimately could result in security breakdowns.
Webroot noted there was evidence that employers may not be working collaboratively enough with workers in deciding how to manage BYOD security as well.
“Today, with so many personal smartphones, tablets and laptops now being used to access corporate data, the productivity gains and cost-savings for employers are substantial, but IT security policy-makers have to think differently and work more collaboratively with their users to determine security policies and practices that address the concerns of both parties,” Mike Malloy, Webroot’s executive vice president of products and strategy, said in a prepared statement.
Other report findings included:
98 percent of employers said they have a security policy in place for mobile access to corporate data, but 21 percent noted they allow employee access with no security at all.
Over 60 percent of IT managers said their employees use personal devices, and 58 percent indicated they were “very” or “extremely” concerned about the security risk from this practice.
Researchers found most employee devices are lacking real security – only 19 percent of respondents said they installed a full security app, and 64 percent of employees were limited to using only the security features that came with their devices.
Over 60 percent of employers indicated they wanted employee input on mobile device security policies, but over 60 percent said employee preference had little or no influence on their mobile security decisions.
46 percent of employees using personal devices said they would stop using their devices for business purposes if their employer required them to install a specific security app.
The report also showed the top employee concerns regarding a company-mandated security app were:
Battery consumption
Employer access to personal data
Employers tracking the location of a device
Impact on device performance
Personal data being wiped by an employer
“We believe if employee concerns about personal privacy are not addressed, or a security app that slows the device or drains the battery is forced upon employees, many will simply stop using their personal devices for work,” Malloy said.
Harris Interactive provided data for the Webroot report, which featured responses from more than 2,000 working professionals and over 205 full-time IT professionals in the U.S. who have a major influence on mobile device security decisions.
The full report is available here.
Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].
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