Study by Aruba
Networks Confirms the Need to Identify and Support High-Risk,
Security-Agnostic Employees to Protect Sensitive Data
CAIRO, Egypt, 15th April, 2015 –
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) is calling for businesses worldwide
to take action as a new mobile security risk report 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 chasm that is exposed between age, gender, income
level, industry and geographic location has a direct effect on the
security of corporate data.
The ‘Securing #GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk?’ security threat study, which questioned over 11,500 workers across 23 countries worldwide including the two largest IT markets in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia and UAE,
showcases that employee attitudes are swaying towards a more sharing,
security-agnostic workplace. The study shows that highly regulated and
tech savvy industries, higher-earning males, and emerging markets pose
the greatest risk to enterprise data security.
Aruba believes
three key trends highlight how #GenMobile is paving the way for
risk-prone behavior in the workforce – which is 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.
- Security agnostic attitudes 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.
However, as this
high-risk culture enters the enterprise, the report finds an alarming
level of disparity among industries, individuals and countries when it
comes to the treatment of mobile devices and data:
The Discrepancy Between Industries
- Finance is leaking data: Believe it or not, 39% of respondents from financial institutions admit to losing company data through the misuse of a mobile device, which is 25% higher than the average across all industries surveyed. The public sector (excluding education) is the least likely to report lost or stolen data.
- High tech is at high risk: High tech employees are nearly two times (46%) more likely than hospitality or education workers to simply give up their device password if asked for it by IT.
- Teachers need a lesson on security: The study reveals that educators are 28% more likely to store passwords on a sheet of paper compared to those in high tech. Educators also score the lowest compared to all other industries when asked if they password-protected their personal smartphones.
Spotting the Risky Individual
- Males more prone to data theft: Men are 20% more likely to have lost personal or client data due to the misuse of a smartphone, and 40% more likely than females to fall victim to identity theft.
- Younger employees wreak havoc on company security: Respondents over the age of 55 are half as likely to experience identity theft or loss of personal/client data compared to younger employees. The age bracket with the highest propensity of data and identity theft are employees between 25-34 years old.
- Larger salaries linked to greater security risk: Employees earning more than $60K are more than twice as likely as employees earning less than $18K to have lost company financial data and 20% more likely to lose personal data due to misuse or theft of a mobile device. Ironically, when offered money, those that earn greater than $75K were three times as likely to give out their device password as respondents making less than $18K.
Mapping Global Risk Trends
- High-risk, high growth: The emerging and growth markets of China, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are found to exhibit the highest risk behaviors worldwide suggesting that greater risk-taking is linked to increased growth and opportunity as much as it relates to security risk.
- West is playing it safe: To support this connection, the least risk-prone countries are the westernized markets, including the USA, UK and Sweden.
Businesses lacking adaptability
The study
suggests that businesses may not be prepared for what lies ahead with
over a third (37%) not having any type of basic mobile security policy
in place. Nearly a fifth (18%) of employees do not use password
protection on their devices, suggesting that employers aren’t enforcing
some basic security practices.
Aruba contends
that if businesses strategically measure and intelligently manage their
security, the more flexible, open methods of working and information
exchange that #GenMobile workers bring can drive new business
innovation.
“Organizations
in the Middle East should strive to build a secure and operational
framework for all workers, rather than stifle them. These trends
underline that #GenMobile employees continue to be a growing part of the
everyday workforce, but they also bring with them some risky
behaviors,” says Ammar Enaya, general manager of Aruba Networks Middle East.
“In a
contemporary connected world, firms need to nurture creativity, while at
the same time minimize the risk of data and information loss. As a
result, employers need to take an adaptive trust
approach to connectivity and data security, identifying individual
worker preferences that factor multiple layers of contextual information
in order to build secure infrastructures around them.”
Run Your Risk
Using this global data, Aruba has developed an online Security Risk Index tool
to allow organizations to benchmark their Mobile Security risk levels
relative to organizations in their country and industry.
