Small businesses dismiss mobile risks, overlooks BYOD threats: Survey

NEW DELHI: Many small-business owners believe BYOD (bring-your-own-device) poses no threat to their company and have no interest in spending effort on mobile device security, while employees themselves think security is the responsibility of the business, a study said.

In the Kaspersky Lab survey, total of 6,219 respondents from 21 countries (Including India with 299 Respondents) took part in this year’s B2B Brand Tracking 2014.

Respondents represented companies employing 1-1500+ people. All respondents were categorized according to the size of their business: Very Small Business, Small and Medium-sized Business, Enterprise.

All participants answered questions related to the main obstacles they faced when building and maintaining a reliable IT infrastructure, about the resources they use to learn about data protection and how they choose their IT solutions.

In India, many users of free products have upgraded to a paid-for home solution due to their desire for increased security.

However, they were unwilling to pay for a more expensive and complicated business solution. This change is partly the result of a new trend in flexible business operations: offices have become remote and people are increasingly working with their own devices.

There may therefore be no reason for a business to buy a complex and expensive solution if employees already have solutions at home. The employer simply needs to permit them to work at home and use home computers.

However, attitudes towards protecting the information security of these devices often leave much to be desired. The consumer security risks survey found that 92% of respondents say that they keep sensitive corporative data on smartphones and tablets which they use for both work and personal activities.

Six in ten (60%) are concerned about the threat of surveillance and information theft via mobile devices, but they do not actively protect themselves and rely on their employers to do so.

It is increasingly rare to come across a business professional who doesn’t use their own mobile device for work. A laptop or smartphone enables you to do a large part of your business tasks remotely, from any global location. However, the loss of important corporate data via personal devices is a common occurrence, and a negligent attitude towards the security of mobile devices could pose a serious risk to a company’s business. That is why it is important to use a reliable dedicated solution that addresses all modern requirements and market trends.