[ISN] UK mobile security still useless

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Tue Oct 30 2007 - 00:20:35 PST


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/29/uk_mobile_security/

By John Leyden
29th October 2007

UK mobile workers are often "left to their own devices" when it comes to 
security, according to a new survey.

A survey by YouGov of 1,200 British workers who use PCs at work found 
that over a third (35 per cent) say responsibility for IT security is 
left up to the individual employee when they are outside the workplace. 
That's akin to leaving the lunatics in charge of the asylum, the survey 
suggests.

Almost a fifth (18 per cent) of British workers reveal their work 
passwords to at least one other person. Nearly one third of workers (32 
per cent) share their work PC with at least one person in their 
household.

Half the PC users quizzed (51 per cent) access company information from 
home and 33 per cent do the same from Wi-Fi hotspots or other public 
places. A substantial minority (26 per cent) of the survey's respondents 
said they copied data onto mobile devices for work at least once per 
week. USB sticks are a favourite tool for data transfer.

Transfer of data to mobile devices combined with a laissez faire 
attitude to security create a huge security risk for businesses, 
according to Dimension Data, the IT services firm that sponsored the 
research. Beyond the usual risks involved in data loss or theft more 
firms face compliance concerns as a result of the issue.

Dimension Data says that improved user education, combined with the 
enforcement of corporate security policies, is needed to bring the 
situation under control. ®



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