Bitglass Study Finds Security Gaps Remain Pervasive Across BYOD Initiatives
SYDNEY, June 16. Bitglass today announced findings
From its 2021 BYOD Security Report that show the rapid
adoption of unmanaged personal devices connecting to
work-related resources (aka BYOD) and why organisations are
ill-equipped to deal with growing security threats such as
malware and data theft.
The study, a joint venture with
Cybersecurity Insiders, surveyed hundreds of cybersecurity
professionals across industries to better understand how
COVID-19’s resulting surge of remote work has affected
security and privacy risks introduced by the use of personal
mobile devices. The insights in this report are especially
relevant as more enterprises shift to permanent remote work
or hybrid work models, connecting more devices to corporate
networks and, as a result, expanding the attack
surface.
“As mobility and remote work environments keep
growing, so do challenges ranging from managing device
access to handling urgent mobile security concerns,” said
Holger Schulze, founder, Cybersecurity Insiders. “Our
research uncovered a plethora of evidence that shows
organisations are not paying enough attention securing
unmanaged personal devices and why the time is now for them
to think differently when it comes to securing
BYOD.”
Key Findings from the Bitglass 2021 BYOD
Security Report:
BYOD is here to stay
The shift to
remote work amid the pandemic resulted in 47 percent of
organisations reporting an increase of personal devices
being used for work. As a result, a total of 82 percent of
organisations said they now actively enable BYOD to some
extent. While the use of personal devices has helped
businesses improve employee productivity and, while also
reducing costs, challenges associated with managing device
access and mobile security remain.
Securing BYOD to
prevent data loss/theft is a top concern
The most
critical concern respondents expressed was data leakage or
loss (62 percent). Other apprehensions included users
downloading unsafe apps or content (54 percent), lost or
stolen devices (53 percent), and unauthorised access to
company data and systems (51 percent).
Enterprises
are running blind when it comes to securing BYOD devices
against modern security threats.
For example, 22 percent
of organisations indicated they can confirm that unmanaged
devices have downloaded malware in the past 12 months.
However, nearly half (49 percent) indicated they are not
sure or could not disclose whether the same could be said
for them. This lack of visibility can be detrimental to the
overall business.
Many organisations are securing
BYOD with old tools vs modern threats
A total of 41
percent of organisations reported relying on endpoint
malware protection for BYOD-an approach that is not ideal
for personal devices which are hard to control and manage.
Over a quarter (30 percent) of firms said they don’t
protect against malware for BYOD at all. While cloud-based
malware protection tools are often a far better fit, only 11
percent of organisations surveyed are currently using these
measures.
“As enterprises begin to shift to hybrid work
environments, personal devices will provide the flexibility
and remote access that employees require. This new way of
working, however, will undoubtedly stretch the resources of
security teams,” said Anurag Kahol, CTO, Bitglass. “This
is why there has never been a more important time for
enterprises to seriously rethink their approach to secure
all forms of communication amongst users, devices, apps, or
web destinations.”
Methodology
Cybersecurity
Insiders surveyed 271 cybersecurity professionals, conducted
in April 2021, to gain deep insight into mobile BYOD
security threats faced by organisations and the solutions to
prevent and remediate them. The respondents range from
technical executives to IT security practitioners,
representing a balanced cross-section of organisations of
varying sizes across multiple
industries.