Smartphones are seen as a more of a security risk than laptops and mobile storage devices, according to new research. Some 94 percent of senior IT staff fear PDAs present a security risk, just above the 88 percent who highlighted mobile storage devices as a worry. Nearly eight in 10 said laptops were an issue. Only four in 10 had encrypted data on their laptops, and the remainder said the information was "not worth" protecting. The results come from a survey of 300 senior IT staff conducted by endpoint data protection supplier Credant Technologies. A key danger with PDAs was that over half of IT executives surveyed were "not bothering" to enter a password when they used their phone. Nine in 10 of the smartphones were being given access to company networks without extra security, even though the phones were individually owned by users. There were no access restrictions being applied to 81 percent of the phones.
View: The full story @ Infoworld
A device that has continuous remote connectivity that can be easily wiped by the admin, and typically has sorely limited storage and limited network access should not be a larger concern than a laptop. A laptop typically has full access to the company network and has gigabytes of storage that users are likely to keep all kinds of crap on except in the most restricted environments. And Symantec Endpoint Protection doesn't protect your laptop from being a friggin theif magnet.
Priorities these days...
Says who? We have thousands of Blackberries in our company--yes, password protected--and they have access to much more than email. Empowering mobile devices with information is extremely valuable, email is only the tip of the iceberg.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.