There are significant differences in the security risk for corporate data posed by employees, according to a new mobile security risk report from Aruba Networks.
The report, which is based on a survey of over 11,500 workers across 23 countries, reveals that businesses are ill prepared for the high-risk, high-growth mindset of the #GenMobile workforce, creating alarming disparity around security practices in the corporate world. The mobile security risk varies by age, gender, income level, industry and geographic location.
Aruba said it believes three key trends highlight how #GenMobile is paving the way for risk-prone behavior in the workforce – which can be both good and bad for business.
- Sharing becomes the norm: Six in ten share their work and personal devices with others regularly. Nearly a fifth of employees don’t have passwords on devices, with 22% of those stating they don’t have security measures in place so that they can share more easily.
- Indifferent attitudes towards security arise: Security ranks fifth behind brand and operating system when #GenMobile is making buying decisions for new devices. Nearly nine in ten (87%) assume their IT departments will keep them protected; however, nearly a third (31%) have lost data due to the misuse of a mobile device.
- Self-empowerment succeeds: Over half (56%) of workers today said they are willing to disobey their boss to get something done, another (51%) say that mobile technologies enable them to be more productive and engaged, and over three quarters (77%) are willing to perform self-service IT.
“#GenMobile workers are flexible, transparent and collaborative, willing to take action to drive productivity and business growth. That said, these employees are also far more willing to share company data, and are notably oblivious towards security,” said Ben Gibson, CMO of Aruba Networks.
Aruba is offering an online Security Risk Index tool to allow organizations to benchmark their Mobile Security risk levels relative to organizations in their country and industry.
