New Report Reveals Cybersecurity Risks Are the Biggest Barrier to Enterprise Mobility and BYOD Success

One in five organizations suffered a mobile security breach; threats are on the rise and impose heavy burden on IT and helpdesk staff

WASHINGTON--()--Following industry predictions that the global BYOD and enterprise mobility market will reach $360 billion by 2020, Crowd Research Partners today released the results of its new 2016 BYOD and Mobile Security Report, in conjunction with leading data security vendors Bitglass, Blancco Technology Group, Check Point Software Technologies, Skycure, SnoopWall and Tenable Network Security. Based on a survey of over 800 global cybersecurity professionals who are members of the 300,000 member Information Security Community on LinkedIn, the study provides a conflicting portrayal of BYOD security barriers and adoption trends in the workplace.

“Increased productivity and employee satisfaction continue to drive adoption of BYOD and enterprise mobility,” said Holger Schulze, founder of the 300,000 member Information Security Community on LinkedIn. “The 2016 BYOD and Mobile Security report reveals that enterprise security risks and mobile data breaches are on the rise. While these threats can significantly impact the success of BYOD initiatives and place a burden on IT support staff, this is also an opportunity for organizations to implement effective cybersecurity solutions to strengthen their security posture and capitalize on the promise of enterprise mobility.”

Key BYOD and mobile security trends that surfaced from the study include:

  • Security (39 percent) and employee privacy (12 percent) are the biggest inhibitors of BYOD adoption. In contrast, management opposition (3 percent) and user experience concerns (4 percent) rank far lower.
  • One in five organizations suffered a mobile security breach, primarily driven by malware and malicious WiFi.
  • Security threats to BYOD impose heavy burdens on organizations’ IT resources (35 percent) and help desk workloads (27 percent).
  • Despite increasing mobile security threats, data breaches and new regulations, only 30 percent of organizations are increasing security budgets for BYOD in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 37 percent have no plans to change their security budgets.

Download the complete report here.

Sponsor Quotes

Nat Kausik, CEO, Bitglass

"The threat of data leakage is more prevalent than ever as employees look to access sensitive corporate information on mobile devices outside the corporate network. Unfortunately, few organizations have adequate risk control measures in place. Less than half support critical capabilities like device encryption and DLP – a gap that suggests more comprehensive BYOD security solutions are needed.”

Pat Clawson, CEO, Blancco Technology Group

“BYOD can be a tough nut for organizations to crack,” said Pat Clawson, CEO of Blancco Technology Group. “Despite its many benefits, our study found that 21 percent of organizations have experienced a data breach resulting from BYOD or corporate-owned mobile devices. This often creates a chicken-or-egg scenario – where organizations contemplate whether to push forward with BYOD without having complete security controls in place, or to postpone until they can be absolutely certain data won’t be leaked. To change this, we need to educate businesses on the full scope of mobile security risks and technology solutions that can help them protect data across the entire lifecycle – and get the C-suite to understand the impact on overall business growth.”

Michael Shaulov, Head of Mobility Product Management, Check Point Software Technologies

“Keeping pace with the unknown risks a BYOD strategy brings to the corporate environment is a struggle for most organizations,” said Michael Shaulov, Head of Mobility Product Management at Check Point. “Overburdened IT staff need comprehensive and automatic threat defense that protects mobile devices and data, but that also respects employee concerns over the privacy of their personal information.”

Adi Sharabani, CEO, Skycure

“Organizations are suffering from increased mobile threats and breaches, primarily driven by network, malware and vulnerability exploits. Visibility is a critical component,” said Adi Sharabani, CEO of Skycure. “According to the report, 48 percent of organizations don’t even know if their mobile devices have connected to a malicious WiFi, while 24% of organizations confirmed such an exposure. Mobile Threat Defense such as Skycure brings these and other threats to the surface and gives organizations the ability to detect, protect and proactively manage them.”

Gary Miliefsky, CEO, SnoopWall

“With mobility security breaches on the rise as outlined in the 2016 BYOD and Mobile Security Report, it is more important than ever to recognize that in today’s dynamic data environment confidential information can end up anywhere,” said Gary Miliefsky, CEO, SnoopWall. “Organizations that use SnoopWall to protect devices from new threats are able to solve the two most difficult security challenges in their organizations -- (1) malicious insider risk and (2) roaming, personally owned unmanaged mobile devices.”

Gavin Millard, Technical Director, EMEA, Tenable Network Security

“Mobile device security has become one of the biggest challenges facing the modern enterprise,” said Gavin Millard, Technical Director, EMEA, Tenable Network Security. “As attackers continue to become more persistent and sophisticated, organizations need a real-time view of their security posture that identifies gaps in coverage and reduces the risk of a breach. Tenable’s solutions provide customers with the complete visibility and critical context needed to inventory all network devices and remediate threats across a distributed IT environment.”

Live Webinar

Join the live webinar Top 5 BYOD & Mobile Security Trends in 2016 on April 14, 2016 at 12 pm ET | 9 am PT | 5 pm GMT as we discuss the key findings of the 2016 BYOD and Mobile Security Report.

About Crowd Research Partners

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Contacts

Crowd Research Partners
Nancy Pieretti, 603-682-8616
nancy.pieretti@crowdresearchpartners.com

Release Summary

The 2016 BYOD and Mobile Security Report reveals a fresh perspective of BYOD adoption trends, security barriers, and best practices benchmarks of BYOD and enterprise mobility in the workplace.

Contacts

Crowd Research Partners
Nancy Pieretti, 603-682-8616
nancy.pieretti@crowdresearchpartners.com