Mobile devices may pose greatest threat to confidential data

A new White Paper warns that the increasing popularity of mobile devices poses a significant threat of leaking confidential enterprise information and intellectual property.

In the paper, Securing Mobile Devices, ISACA, the global association for enterprise governance of information technology (IT), noted that the use of wireless networks, typically less secure than wired networks, leaves information at greater risk for interception. From smartphones to USB sticks, many devices also store data that is unencrypted, which can result in sensitive information being compromised through interception and device theft or loss. Mobile devices can also be the targets of malware attacks as employees carry them beyond the protection of their company’s network.

The White Paper notes that a lack of enterprise control of physical devices, along with the growing practice of employees using personal devices for business, has increased mobile device risk levels.
According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2009 Annual Study: Cost of a Data Breach, 32 per cent of all data breach cases in the study involved lost or stolen laptop computers or other mobile data-bearing devices. While the average organisational cost of a data breach was $3.4 million, all countries in the study reported noticeably higher data breach costs associated with mobile incidents.