Johannesburg, 29 Oct 2014
Mobile security breaches have affected 58% of South African organisations in the last 12 months, according to a new study from BT. Despite this, South African organisations are still not taking sufficient security measures to protect themselves against mobile threats, such as lost or stolen devices and malware infections. In fact, the report reveals that more than two-fifths of respondents' organisations that suffered a mobile security breach, experienced more than four incidents in the last year.
The research explores the attitudes of IT decision makers towards security within their organisations. It shows that uptake of BYOD (bring your own device) and COPE (corporately owned personally-enabled) devices is very high, with 84% of South African organisations allowing employees to use these devices for work purposes.
However, only four in 10 organisations actively had a BYOD policy. In this environment, device security is falling by the wayside: only 14% of respondents felt that their company had sufficient resources in place to prevent a mobile security breach. Surprisingly, over a third (37%) do not have password protection; however, 70% report that their organisation does not have IT security training for all.
The report highlights that while 32% of personal or corporate owned mobile devices have full access to the internal networks or contain sensitive client information, 36% of organisations do not have any kind of enforceable mobile security policy.
For those that do, the average length of time between reviewing mobile security measures in South Africa is 11 months. The infrequency of this is cause for concern, as many IT decision-makers believe that the rate of malware infections will be on the rise in the next three to five years. Security breaches, such as lost or stolen devices, malware infections such as viruses, spyware, and Trojan Horses, or the loss or theft of company or customer data, have had a major impact on business processes, including taking up valuable help desk time and other IT resources. They have reduced employee productivity, day to day activity and even customer experience, as well as causing reputational damage. Some have even resulted in hefty fines.
Mark Hughes, president of BT Security, said: "Today's threat landscape shifts very quickly so it is important for organisations to start with security in mind, rather than add it as an afterthought. This will ensure that security processes develop with them, and not after them. This makes the task of being security-led much more straightforward."
Staff attitudes remain the biggest threat to data security. The report reveals that 72% are not taking the security of devices seriously. However, delving further into this, it becomes clear that this attitude trickles down from the boardroom: 66% of South African IT decision-makers do not believe their CEO takes security very seriously. This is concerning, as security programmes need to have complete top down buy-in in order to be successful, with everyone from the CEO right throughout the organisation taking part.
Mark Hughes, continued: "If CEOs are passionate about making security practices work, then they will inevitably become an intrinsic part of people's lives. Problems usually arise when people don't understand the risks and the impact that neglecting security could cause for the business, as well as for them personally. A security breach could cause a share price drop and reputational brand damage. This means that security is everyone's job.
"At BT, we are working with many leading global organisations to help educate them about security risks and put in place proactive defences. When people understand the repercussions of not adhering to security practices, and are given the tools to prevent them, organisations will truly be able to reap the many benefits of mobility and BYOD."
For further information:
Enquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on its 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK dial + 44 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at our Web site: http://www.btplc.com/News
Notes to editors:
About the research
This research was undertaken by Vanson Bourne in September and October 2014 on behalf of BT. A total of 640 interviews with IT decision makers from large sized organisations (1 000+ employees) were carried out across 11 regions: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Middle East, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, UK and USA. Respondents' organisations were from the financial, retail and public sectors.
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