Security policy, what security policy?
New research has revealed that whilst 25% of all businesses have experienced security issues as a result of employees using their laptops or mobile devices outside of work, in clear contravention of company policies, as many as one in three workers are blindly unaware that such policies even existed.
Managing the new generation of mobile devices, from connected laptops to smart phones, is a major challenge facing IT departments. Today’s devices not only have the capability to access corporate networks, but can also store large amounts of potentially sensitive data. However, it would appear that serious risks are arising through mobile workers’ non-compliance with IT security policies.
The research, from Vodafone UK, clearly indicates that although many companies are setting remote and mobile working policies, they often prove to be ineffective because staff just don’t follow them. Not only is this due to lack of knowledge or understanding on the part of the user, but also to lack of awareness in the IT department of effective solutions to extend and enforce security policies and practices to the mobile user community.
This problem is only set to grow as businesses balance security risks against the growing need to provide secure network access for remote workers in an ever-widening range of locations, and across many different networks and devices.