Mobile security remains a concern this holiday season

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Consumers and employees likely received a number of new mobile devices this past holiday season, which could potentially lead to a flood of security threats.

According to a recent study released by the National Cyber Security Alliance, 44 percent of Americans use their smartphones to access the internet, while 75 percent do so more often than last year.

The study also cited research from comScore that revealed nearly 32.5 million Americans accessed their banking information in the second quarter of 2011, growing more than 20 percent compared to the final period of 2010.

Also, 70 percent of those surveyed indicated they believe they are safe from mobile security attacks and other cybercrime. Only 26 percent of respondents said they read the developer policies regarding their mobile application downloads, according to the study.

With so many smartphones and tablets being used by consumers and employees, businesses are encouraged to develop mobile device management policies to protect their networks. Dimension Data chief information officer Ian Jansen said in recent interview with CIO that these programs should be flexible and allow workers to choose their own devices while having a proper infrastructure in place.