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exceed those of corporate desktops or laptops - app malware, public Wi-Fi use, data and device
loss, apps downloaded from third party sites. Meanwhile, corporate data is accessed or resides
on these mobile devices.

The Harris Poll found 41% of individuals’ surveyed use a smartphone or tablet for work
purposes, including accessing corporate email or other company data. Of those using a mobile
device for work 78% are using their own personal device, and 12% are using a company issued
device. Most concerning, 70% of employee devices only have the security installed when the
device was purchased. The bottom line is that most employee devices are lacking real security
with only 19% installing a full security app. As a result, a priority for employers must be to get
employee devices adequately secured and protected.

How to address the challenges
A mandated corporate security policy requiring the installation of a security app on personal
devices used for work would appear to be a reasonable approach to protecting company
information. However, our survey results showed that nearly half, 46%, of employees would
stop using their personal devices for work, which would result in productivity loss.

So what concerns employees about adding company-managed security to their personal
devices? Primary concerns include:

1. Employer access to personal data
2. Personal data being wiped by the employer
3. The Employer tracking the location of the device
4. Negative device performance impacts
5. High battery consumption

Addressing employee concerns may appear to be a deal breaker, but employees do understand
both sides of the BYOD security dynamic. Over 60% of employees responded that “my
company has the right to put a security app on my device as a condition of allowing access to
corporate data.” Still, 21% of companies with a policy allow personal device access with no
security, which does not align well with survey results stating 95% of company are concerned to
some degree about security risks from employees’ personal devices.

Employees would like to have some choice of software or security to be installed on their
device, and 58% feel they have adequate knowledge of mobile security apps to select the right
solution. This data highlights an issue for company IT management – BYOD already requires
managing numerous device operating systems, brands and models – so multiple security
solutions would considerably add to the complexity of managing corporate data security. As
expected, 88% of company IT managers prefer to manage mobile security in a common
endpoint management environment, with 74% who agreed that involving employees is a good
way to improve security compliance.

32 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – October 2014 Edition
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