Research: IT Security Strategies Ignore Smartphone Use

SAN FRANCISCO -- GuardianEdge, the leader in endpoint data protection for the enterprise, today announced the results of a consumer survey on smartphone usage, revealing that 70 percent of respondents access what they deem to be sensitive information on their smartphone device when away from the office. The Smartphone Protection Consumer Survey,” notes that today’s businesses have become “always on” environments, with employees becoming increasingly reliant upon mobile devices for connectivity when on the road or away from the office. In many cases, employees take the need for increased productivity into their own hands, using their own mobile devices when corporate ones are not provided.

The GuardianEdge-sponsored survey was independently conducted by Decipher, a marketing research service provider specializing in the gathering of online consumer data. It further underscores the threat that smartphones pose to corporate IT security, finding that 89 percent of the 200 respondents polled stated that they were able to review e-mail or access corporate information via their smartphone device. This constant connectivity to company systems, without appropriate protections in place, can create tremendous vulnerabilities in the IT security infrastructure as the devices themselves become smaller, more powerful and more susceptible to loss or theft. However, despite the potential threats from these devices, 69 percent of respondents believe it is necessary to store company or job-related information on their smartphone in order to perform their job function. With access to corporate information on-the-go becoming a necessity for the workforce, organizations can no longer ignore the use of personal smartphones within their organizations.

GuardianEdge Technologies Inc.