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Time to take mobile security seriously

By Suzanne Franco, Surveys Editorial Project Manager at ITWeb.
Johannesburg, 13 Mar 2015
Mobile security is generally not at the level it should be in SA, says Doros Hadjizenonos, sales manager at Check Point SA.
Mobile security is generally not at the level it should be in SA, says Doros Hadjizenonos, sales manager at Check Point SA.

The need to provide secure access to business files on mobile devices has become crucial as more South African businesses adopt mobile strategies.

To determine the level of maturity among local businesses when it comes to mobile security, Check Point, in partnership with ITWeb, conducted an online Mobile Security Survey during February/March, to gauge organisations' attitudes towards the subject.

"The main objective of the survey is to better understand the extent of mobile security within South African organisations and to benchmark this against global trends. There is also a need to create awareness about mobile security," says Doros Hadjizenonos, sales manager at Check Point SA.

He adds workers are becoming more mobile and need to access business resources like e-mail, calendar, intranet and documents while out of the office.

Hadjizenonos believes mobile security is generally not at the level it should be in SA, and this is allowing hackers to target devices and gain access to confidential information.

"Users are a lot more relaxed from a security point of view with their mobile devices than they are with their laptops, for example. Obviously, the solution is to make sure security is part of any organisation's mobile strategy, but, at the same time, it should not make it cumbersome to use the mobile device to access corporate information.

"We have seen a huge increase in attacks on mobile devices. In many cases, not having adequate security measures on mobile devices could lead to a company's data being compromised," Hadjizenonos advises.

He notes there is a shift in focus from managing the device to managing a secure container on the device.

"Nearly half of the surveyed organisations in our global report have experienced security breaches as a result of a compromised mobile device, and 82% of security professionals expect the number of mobile security incidents to increase in 2015. Solutions are available that create a capsule on mobile devices that separate business content from private content and applications.

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"This information is encrypted and protected against threats, and can only be accessed by authorised users. Businesses are not going to stop staff from accessing corporate information on their mobiles so they need to start thinking differently about security."

According to Hadjizenonos, South African organisations lag their global counterparts in terms of implementing successful mobile security strategies.

"With the growing number of business applications that are available on mobile devices and the type of data that is stored on these devices, I can confidently confirm IT most definitely drives investment of mobile security," Hadjizenonos concludes.

Results for the survey will be released in early April.

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