Report finds credit cards, pins, on phones

Around half of organisations have lost or had stolen a mobile device that contained critical business data.

According to a report by McAfee on mobile security, four in 10 organisations have reported lost or stolen devices with critical data on them. More than a third of mobile device losses have had a financial impact on the organisation. However two-thirds of companies that had a mobile device lost or stolen had increased their device security after the incident.

The survey of more than 1500 information technology and end-user respondents from 14 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, UK and the US, also found that fewer than half of users back up their mobile data more than once a week. Also, around half of the users surveyed keep passwords, pin codes or credit card details on their mobile devices.

Todd Gebhart, executive vice president and general manager of consumer, small business and mobile at McAfee, said: “Data loss remains a huge problem for both consumers and businesses. Consumers need tools to protect their personal information and businesses need a way to protect their valuable intellectual property. This study shows that there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of education and putting the right tools in place to ensure mobile security.”

Richard Power, director of strategic communications at CyLab and primary author of the report, said: “Devices are no longer just consumer devices or business devices, they are both. Devices are more than extensions of the computing structure, they are extensions of the user. The way users interact with their personal data mirrors the way they want to interact with corporate data.”

This article originally appeared at scmagazineuk.com