Bromium Inc., the pioneer of threat isolation to prevent data breaches, today announced the results of “CTIA Super Mobility” Understanding Mobility and Risk, a survey of mobile users who attended the CTIA Super Mobility 2015 conference, focused on public network access patterns. The research reveals that the majority of mobile users access corporate assets through public networks, despite being aware of their security risk.
Clinton Karr, senior security strategist, Bromium, said: “There are multiple risks associated with connecting to public networks, including man-in-the-middle attacks, honey pots and even advanced persistent threats, such as DarkHotel. It should be concerning to information security professionals tasked with protecting their corporate assets that their users will connect to potentially unsecure public networks, while neglecting their security risk.”
Key findings from Bromium’s “CTIA Super Mobility” Understanding Mobility and Risk include:
- Mobile users access public networks despite awareness of risk: More than 80% of survey respondents have accessed public networks from a corporate laptop at a hotel or convention centre, and more than 60% have done the same at an airport, coffee shop or restaurant; however, these same respondents also selected hotels, convention centres, airports and coffee shops as the public networks with the most security risk.
- Mobile users access corporate assets from personal devices and public networks: 86% percent of survey respondents have accessed their corporate network, corporate files or corporate email account from their personal devices. 64% of survey respondents have accessed their corporate network, corporate files or corporate email account from a public network.
- Mobile users take inadequate precautions connecting to public networks: Only one-in-three mobile users (37 %) connect via Virtual private network (VPN), and 14 % take no precautions at all.
