Mobile Security Risks – a Threat in the Workplace

Featured article by Deepak Vijay is Technical Editor in Syon Infomedia Pvt. Ltd

Mobile apps have become an integral part and dire necessity to millions of people and working professionals worldwide. The level of convenience offered by these devices is also one of the primary reasons for the phenomenal rise in demand and popularity for Apps. These devices have become inevitable to people in their homes, offices, businesses, traveling, hotels, health, banking, and many others. The improvements in mobile communication and features of chatting, texting, messaging, and voice mail have dramatically transformed the workplace and interoffice communication and changed the way we conduct business.

The importance of these devices in people’s lives can be best understood by the study of ABI Research. The study says that cumulative downloads of Apps will be 44 billion in 2016. Another ABI Research report on Apps revenue also informs that revenues from in-app advertising, pay-per-download, subscriptions, and in-app purchase will reach to $46 billion in 2016.

Though Apps are playing a vital role in everyday lives of people and faster growth of businesses; they are also offering an extreme number of mobile security threats. It has become difficult to secure company data and sensitive and confidential information from hackers and disgruntled employees. The retailers and other organizations that have large customer base are also finding difficulties in safeguarding customer information.

The use of Smartphones, Apps, Tablets, and Laptops by employers, staffs, and employees in the workplace has further increased security risks manifold. The browsing of unauthorized websites, improper session handling, accessing unknown Wi-Fi networks, weak passwords, authorization, and authentication, unstable cryptography, Jailbroken devices, cameras and messaging, and weak server side controls are few causes that allow attackers access sensitive data of employers and companies. Along with these risks, there are also additional security threats like Cloud Apps, Malware, Operating System compliance, SSO technologies, unsecured networks, and APTs.

Various research agencies and organizations have also conducted research, surveys, and studies to ascertain the types and extent of Mobile security risks. Their findings show that security threats are real in Organizations and Mobile Apps Development companies that have not implemented proper security measures to protect their data from hackers and disgruntled employees.

IBM/Ponemon report says rising demand for Apps and “rushto release” pose high-level risks of malware and data leakage. They came to this conclusion after 65 percent of the participants’ of mobile application security study agree that greater customers need, and demands are posing a great security threat to companies.

BlackBerry Limited also released Study report on Mobile Security inBlackBerry Security Summit–July 19, 2016. The survey was conducted on 1000 employees globally by Vanson Bourne for BlackBerry. The research report reveals that 73 percent companies have a strategy for mobile security, but only three percent implemented security possible. 86 percent employees are worried about the level protection in their organization and half of these employees worry about the possible security leakage through mobile devices. 44 percent employees also said that high-level security in the organization could hamper the performance of employees.

The lack of awareness on the security of Apps is also reasons for security vulnerabilities among the organizations. A 2015 survey of Ponemon Institute informs that 40 percent of the companies surveyed are not scanning the code in their apps for security threats, and nearly 50 percent do not have any budget for mobile security. The study also found that Mobile malware costs companies $16.3 million per year.

The survey reports of different enterprises show that ineffective security measures make companies vulnerable to attack from hackers and unsatisfied workers. It is necessary for companies to implement effective security measures to secure their data and sensible information.

Author Bio – Deepak Vijay is Technical Editor in Syon Infomedia Pvt. Ltd, a leading IT and Software development company, specializing in Web, Android, iPad, and iPhone Apps Development. He has 7+ years experience in technical field. He also has passion for writing technical and educational articles.