Survey Shows Mobile Computing Is Top Security Concern
April 11, 2012
More than a third (35 percent) of information security professionals believe mobile computing represents the biggest risk to their organizations, according to results from a survey completed by FishNet Security. Social networks (27 percent) and cloud computing (18 percent) represent the next areas of highest concern.
"It’s clear that mobile computing tops the list of this year’s leading security concerns with the clients we surveyed," said Gary Fish, FishNet Security’s founder and CEO. "Our company is seeing this as a major issue because of the number of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) instances and the vulnerabilities that can threaten mobile computing, such as unsecured Wi-Fi access, lost or stolen devices, and malware attacks on mobile operating systems."…
Furthermore, nearly a third (30 percent) of surveyed security professionals believe that data breaches on mobile devices will account for the majority of all data breaches this year. Cybercriminal hackers (25 percent) and accidental exposure of data (19 percent) represented the next two highest concerns. One respondent said, "Mobile technology is still openly unsecured; cybercriminal hackers/crackers are growing; and people are very unaware of minimum good security usage practices, besides being too open-minded on utilization of cyber technology."
Fish is seeing companies increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of data loss prevention, next-generation firewalls and strong overall security measures.
"Hackers usually go for the ‘low-hanging fruit’ when they go on the attack," added Fish. "If they encounter an organization with strong security controls on the outside perimeter, then they generally move on to another target."
Concerns about Cloud Computing Growing In the same survey, nearly a third (28 percent) believe cloud computing will replace social networks as the second-riskiest computing environment in the next two years. However, mobile computing is expected to remain the No. 1 concern in that time period.
"Cloud computing represents a growing area of concern because companies are leveraging it to increase efficiency and reduce IT spending," said Aaron Shilts, executive vice president of Services at FishNet Security. "Because of its growing popularity, we’re seeing more concern about cloud-specific security issues in our survey. The geographic distribution of cloud-based data can make it incredibly challenging to maintain standard security controls. Cloud computing is also forcing organizations to take a closer look at their Identity and Access Management posture."
Training Tops List for Security Investment More than a third (34 percent) of respondents expect security training to be the main area of security services investment this year, followed by security consulting (26 percent) and mobile security (24 percent). Managed security came in at No. 4 (16 percent) of the choices from the question, "What security services do you plan to invest in during 2012?"
To view the entire results of the survey, go to the Survey of Security and Data Breach Trends for 2012 located on FishNet Security’s website.
The survey was conducted in January 2012. After email invitations were sent to FishNet Security’s customer base, 450 respondents from diverse industries throughout the United States responded to all questions. Survey results are based on their responses.
FishNet Security serves a majority of both Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. It’s among the fastest-growing U.S. information security companies, with annual revenue growth averaging 40 percent during the last three years. The company offers a full suite of information security services and expertise tailored to small, mid-sized and large businesses.