As mobile working is on the increase, all it takes is one careless employee and to create a security risk, an expert in the industry has warned.
Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of the Wick Hill Group, has suggested that many companies are continuing to risk their reputation and therefore their business on this single point of failure.
He said: “Companies are still not getting to grips with the security dangers of mobile computing and consumerisation.”
Some of the most high profile organisations, including the government have made the headlines in past over the loss of unencrypted data, yet the situation seems to continue.
These high profile cases are also only just a fraction of the total number of incidences which occur, meaning the issue is far more widespread.
The issue is endemic in both the public and private sectors and firms need to be more proactive in putting measures in place to combat the problem.
Unsecured PCs in employees’ homes and their laptops, as well as unmanaged USB sticks present huge potential for security breaches and it only takes one employee to be careless and the data could be stolen.
Since mobile and remote working has risen at such a quick pace, the IT departments of many companies have found it difficult to keep pace with changes and implement security measures.
Mr Kilpatrick said: “The cost of security breaches is extremely high, the Information Commissioner’s Office is getting tougher on fining companies who do not comply with security standards, and any publicity surrounding security breaches is very harmful.”
Since solutions to the problem are relatively low cost it makes sense for companies to pay attention and address the situation before it has a negative impact on business.
It has been predicted that 2012 is to be the year that cyber security becomes a huge issue and one that firms can ill afford to ignore.
