April 4, 2006

According to new research done by Symantec, as a whole, many companies are simply afraid to set up wireless and remote computing systems because of numerous Internet security issues. Symantec says that more than 60 percent of companies are seriously holding back on deploying and integrating wireless technology.

Some of the reasons given are that they have many concerns over its overall security, the global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found.

According to the report, 82 per cent of businesses worldwide think the damage from virus attacks would be the same or greater on a mobile network than it could be on a fixed network.

However, the majority of businesses aren't prepared for the possibility of a virus attacking their mobile systems.

"The research highlights serious weaknesses in firms’ present security arrangements for mobile devices," the survey found.

"Only 26 per cent have actually assessed security risks of smart phones, compared with 81 percent of enterprises conducting security assessments for laptops."

“It’s prudent for enterprises to gain experience in mobile deployments and security before a serious attack makes it mandatory and time critical,” said Ollie Whitehouse, a wireless research scientist at Symantec.

"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.

Only nine per cent of the companies surveyed had set up a security system to deal with corporate mobile devices.

Of the rest, 10 per cent of companies have no measures for addressing mobile security, while 39 per cent are currently integrating devices into their existing fixed network security set up.

The figures varied for businesses throughout the world. In Western European, 55 per cent of 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.

The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed more than 240 global company executives.

Source: Vnunet

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