Almost one in five businesses worldwide has suffered financial loss due to attacks from mobile platforms according to new research from security firm, Symantec.

Carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit in partnership with Symantec, the research, released on Tuesday, found that 74 per cent of respondents had been hacked via a mobile network, while 76 per cent had experienced a virus attack via a mobile platform.

In both of these cases the majority of respondents had experienced only minor losses from the incidents, but in both situations 4 per cent had experienced a major financial loss. Furthermore, 78 per cent of respondents had also experienced financial loss through deliberate abuse of mobile data by employees.

Despite the proliferation of mobile devices, only 26 per cent of companies have assessed the security risks associated with smart phones, the report claims. This compares with 81 per cent of enterprises who regularly do security assessments for company laptops.

The study found that just nine per cent of companies have a comprehensive security architecture in place that includes mobile device access. Of the rest, 10 per cent have no measures to address mobile security, 39 per cent are granting mobile devices access to corporate networks on an ad hoc basis and another 39 per cent are integrating mobile devices into their existing fixed network security architecture.

Despite this apparent hiatus in security, 82 per cent of businesses indicate that the damage from virus attacks is the same or greater on a mobile network than on a fixed network.

According to the research, which comprised interviews with 240 global company executives worldwide, security concerns are the biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of wireless and remote computing in businesses. More than 60 per cent of companies are believed to be holding back deployment because of security concerns, the report said. Close to 47 per cent of respondents cite cost and complexity as a major obstacle.

Interestingly, Western European businesses are the most security aware, with North America lagging behind. Around 55 per cent of Western European businesses have deployed security software to protect mobile data, compared to 44 per cent in Asia Pacific and just 36 per cent in North America.

"It's prudent for enterprises to gain experience in mobile deployments and security before a serious attack makes it mandatory and time critical," said Paul Miller, director of mobile and wireless solutions at Symantec. "In today's enterprise, there are multiple end points to account for - and proper protection cannot be tackled as one-size-fits-all.

"While most enterprises are aware of the risks introduced with mobility, they continue to lack the appropriate security measures and policies required to protect themselves from potential threats," he said.

Take me to the Mobile Ailments Roundup - more news on mobile malware

To comment on any articles, please contact us at chatback@telecoms.com or have your say on our blog.

Bookmark this page

• Back to Top
• Print