Global Study by Aruba Networks Confirms the Need to Identify and Support High-Risk, Security-lax Employees to Protect Sensitive Data
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) is calling for businesses worldwide
to take action as a new mobile security risk report reveals that
businesses are ill prepared for the high-risk, high-growth mindset of
the #GenMobile
workforce, creating alarming disparity around security practices in the
corporate world. The chasm that is exposed between age, gender, income
level, industry and geographic location has a direct effect on the
security of corporate data.
The “Securing
#GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk” security threat
study, which questioned over 11,500 workers across 23 countries
worldwide, showcases that employee attitudes are swaying towards more
sharing of devices yet an indifferent view to security in the workplace.
The study shows that highly regulated and tech savvy industries,
higher-earning males, and emerging markets pose the greatest risk to
enterprise data security.
Aruba believes three key trends highlight how #GenMobile is paving the
way for risk-prone behavior in the workforce – which can be both good
and bad for business.
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Sharing becomes the norm: Six in ten share their work and
personal devices with others regularly. Nearly a fifth of employees
don’t have passwords on devices, with 22% of those stating they don’t
have security measures in place so that they can share more easily.
-
Indifferent attitudes towards security arise: Security ranks
fifth behind brand and operating system when #GenMobile is making
buying decisions for new devices. Nearly nine in ten (87%) assume
their IT departments will keep them protected; however, nearly a third
(31%) have lost data due to the misuse of a mobile device.
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Self-empowerment succeeds: Over half (56%) of workers today
said they are willing to disobey their boss to get something done,
another (51%) say that mobile technologies enable them to be more
productive and engaged, and over three quarters (77%) are willing to
perform self-service IT.
“#GenMobile workers are flexible, transparent and collaborative, willing
to take action to drive productivity and business growth. That said,
these employees are also far more willing to share company data, and are
notably oblivious towards security,” said Ben Gibson, CMO of Aruba
Networks.
However, as this high-risk culture enters the enterprise, the report
finds an alarming level of disparity among industries, individuals and
countries when it comes to the treatment of mobile devices and data:
The Discrepancy Between Industries
-
Finance is leaking data: Believe it or not, 39% of respondents
from financial institutions admit to losing company data through the
misuse of a mobile device, which is 25% higher than the average across
all industries surveyed. The public sector (excluding education) is
the least likely to report lost or stolen data.
-
High tech is at high risk: High tech employees are nearly two
times (46%) more likely than hospitality or education workers to
simply give up their device password if asked for it by IT.
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Teachers need a lesson on security: The study reveals that
educators are 28% more likely to store passwords on a sheet of paper
compared to those in high tech. Educators also score the lowest
compared to all other industries when asked if they password-protected
their personal smartphones.
Spotting the Risky Individual
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Males more prone to data theft: Men are 20% more likely to have
lost personal or client data due to the misuse of a smartphone, and
40% more likely than females to fall victim to identity theft.
-
Younger employees wreak havoc on company security: Respondents
over the age of 55 are half as likely to experience identity theft or
loss of personal/client data compared to younger employees. The age
bracket with the highest propensity of data and identity theft are
employees between 25-34 years old.
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Larger salaries linked to greater security risk: Employees
earning more than $60K are more than twice as likely as employees
earning less than $18K to have lost company financial data, and 20%
more likely to lose personal data due to misuse or theft of a mobile
device. Ironically, when offered money, those that earn greater than
$75K were three times as likely to give out their device password as
respondents making less than $18K.
Mapping Global Risk Trends
-
High-risk, high growth: The emerging and growth markets of
China, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are found to
exhibit the highest risk behaviors worldwide suggesting that greater
risk-taking is linked to increased growth and opportunity as much as
it relates to security risk.
-
West is playing it safe: To support this connection, the least
risk-prone countries are the westernized markets, including the USA,
UK and Sweden.
Businesses lacking adaptability
The study suggests that businesses may not be prepared for what lies
ahead with over a third (37%) not having any type of basic mobile
security policy in place. Nearly a fifth (18%) of employees do not use
password protection on their devices, suggesting that employers aren’t
enforcing some basic security practices.
Aruba contends that if businesses strategically measure and
intelligently manage their security, the more flexible, open methods of
working and information exchange that #GenMobile workers bring can drive
new business innovation.
“Organizations should strive to build a secure and operational framework
for all workers, rather than stifle them. These trends underline that
#GenMobile employees continue to be a growing part of the everyday
workforce, but they also bring with them some risky behaviors,” said
Gibson.
“In a contemporary connected world, firms need to nurture creativity,
while at the same time minimize the risk of data and information loss.
As a result, employers need to take an adaptive
trust approach to connectivity and data security, identifying
individual worker preferences that factor multiple layers of contextual
information in order to build secure infrastructures around them.”
Run Your Risk
Using this global data, Aruba has developed an online
Security Risk Index tool to allow organizations to benchmark their
Mobile Security risk levels relative to organizations in their country
and industry.
About Aruba Networks, Inc.
Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access
solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company designs and delivers
Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a
new generation of tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for
every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility
experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined
Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and
trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention.
The results are dramatically improved productivity and lower operational
costs.
Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in
Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas,
Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more,
visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter
and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
© 2015 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks’ trademarks include Aruba
Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized), Aruba
Mobility-Defined Networks™, Aruba Mobility Management System®, People
Move Networks Must Follow®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, RFProtect®, Green
Island®, ETips®, ClientMatchTM, Virtual
Intranet AccessTM, ClearPass Access Management
SystemsTM, Aruba InstantTM,
ArubaOSTM, xSecTM,
ServiceEdgeTM, Aruba ClearPass Access
Management SystemTM, AirmeshTM,
AirWaveTM, Aruba CentralTM,
and “ARUBA@WORKTM. All rights reserved. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Aruba Networks, Inc.
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Director, Corporate Communications
pradda@arubanetworks.com
or
LSH Communications for Aruba Networks
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
lhultin@arubanetworks.com
or
Waggener Edstrom
Tom Woods, +44 (0) 207 632 3876
twoods@waggeneredstrom.com