SECURITY
Survey points to insecurity of PDAs
01-09-2004
by Deirdre McArdle
A UK survey shows that many PDA users do not adequately protect data stored on their mobile devices, leaving private and corporate information vulnerable to theft
As many as two-thirds of personal digital assistants (PDA) owners are complacent about encrypting or password-protecting the information they store on their devices according to the Mobile Vulnerability Survey 2004, commissioned by Pointsec Mobile Technologies, Infosecurity Europe and Computer Business Review (CBR).
This figure is all the more worrying considering that 29 percent of users store corporate data and 76 percent store business contact details on their PDAs, according to the survey. Results also showed that 13 percent of users have mislaid their devices and only 10 percent think they should be concerned about the potential loss of their PDA.
"Clearly companies are under-estimating, or are totally unaware of the amount of valuable information which is being stored on personal and business mobile devices. Our advice is that companies should ensure that they have a mobile security policy and that all data is protected by centrally managed encryption and password protection. To do this you have to take the responsibility away from the users and make it the companies' sole responsibility," said Magnus Ahlberg, managing director of Pointsec Mobile Technologies.
According to the survey, companies are attempting to take mobile security into their own hands; over 50 percent of companies have introduced a specific mobile security policy as compared to just 27 percent in 2003. These efforts though are not making the difference they should as the number of people using encryption or passwords to protect their data has remained relatively unchanged in the past three years Pointsec notes.
Other results, most of which outlined what people use their PDAs for, showed that 71 percent of respondents used their device as a business diary while 72 percent used it as a personal diary. The trend of using a PDA as a phone is proving popular with 29 percent of users indicating this as a primary function. Less than 30 percent of users use the games or music functions on their PDAs.
The Mobile Vulnerability Survey was conducted among 68 IT managers with 38 percent coming from companies employing over 1,000 employees.
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