IT professionals 'forced' to use mobile devices despite security concerns

Research firm IDC anticipates there will be over 28 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices installed by 2020. These devices are expected to deliver an overall global economic value add of $1.9 trillion, of which 80 percent will be derived from services. While the IoT marketplace is lucrative, new devices will open additional attack vectors for enterprise networks.

According to the Tripwire’s survey, 68 percent of respondents believe that business efficiency requirements are forcing their organisations to adopt smart technology in spite of security risks.

Additional findings included:

87 percent of respondents said their organisation has a policy which places restrictions on employees connecting smart tools to the corporate network; however 62 percent of respondents admit they’ve already connected personal devices.
When purchasing a new smart device, 73 percent of the respondents said their primary concern is functionality, not security.
Over a quarter of the respondents (27 percent) already own between five and ten smart devices excluding smart phones and laptops.

“Even though many organizations have policies against connecting personal smart devices to their corporate networks, employees often feel that connecting these devices via USB to charge them isn’t a problem,” said Ken Westin, security analyst for Tripwire. “I’ve heard a number of stories about the security alerts generated when employees plug their smart phones into point-of-sale devices, a practice that can easily introduce additional risk. This is really an education problem – employees need a better understanding of the risks involved and IT teams need to provide reasonable options so employees can remain productive without increasing security risks to the organization.”