Security concerns are the biggest obstacle to the widespread
adoption of wireless and remote computing in businesses worldwide today,
according to a global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by
Symantec Corp.
More than 60 percent of companies are holding back on
deployment, citing security concerns. Close to 47 percent of respondents cite
cost and complexity as a major obstacle to deployment. All the while, almost one
in five businesses has already experienced financial loss due to attacks via
mobile data platforms.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's research highlights
serious weaknesses in firms' present security arrangements for mobile devices.
While 82 percent of businesses worldwide, indicate that they see the damage from
virus attacks as the same or greater on a mobile network than on a fixed
network, only 26 per- cent have actually assessed security risks of smart
phones, compared with 81 percent of enterprises conducting security assessments
for laptops.
Despite the proliferation of mobile device use in the
enterprise, only nine percent of companies have incorporated a new security
architecture designed to include mobile device access. Of the rest, ten per-
cent of the companies have no measures for addressing mobile security, 39
percent are granting mobile devices access to corporate networks on an ad hoc
basis and another 39 percent are integrating mobile devices into their existing
fixed network security architecture.
"It's prudent for enterprises to gain experience in
mobile deployments and security before a serious attack makes it mandatory and
time critical," said Paul Miller, Director Mobile and Wireless Solutions,
Symantec Corp
The Economist Intelligence Unit, surveyed more than 240
global company executives and conducted a number of in-depth interviews with
executives across a range of industries, to explore awareness of security risks
associated with the widespread adoption of mobile data solutions.