Bluefire says its Mobile Device and Network Security Survey showed that subscribers are using a wide variety of applications on their devices. Of the survey's respondents...
- 65 percent surf the Web
- 60 percent use text and picture messaging
- 54 percent access corporate email accounts
- 40 percent access personal web-based accounts
The increasing risk for security breaches inherent in mobile applications is widely acknowledged, according to Bluefire. Over half of the respondents said they or their employer would deploy more mobile devices, more rapidly, if security was addressed. Almost 80 percent indicated that preinstalled security software would likely accelerate purchase and deployment of mobile devices in their organizations.
The top three mobile security issues selected by respondents were...
- Protection and/or encryption of the device data (67 percent)
- Loss or theft of a device (64 percent)
- Security of data during wireless transmission (61 percent)
The more than 1500 respondents included representatives of small, mid-size, and large enterprises, as well as government and military officials, equipment manufacturers, and software developers, according to Bluefire.
"Our survey of users of wireless networks and mobile devices should be a wake-up call for device manufacturers and wireless carriers," said Bluefire Security Technologies COO Scott Schelle. "Enterprises and individuals are relying on their devices for ever more sophisticated tasks and are signaling they want to buy more devices. But until the security issues are addressed purchases will continue to be delayed."
The complete survey results are available as a
PDF download from the company's website.
Bluefire Security Technologies is a provider of security software products targeting mobile handheld devices, so the company clearly has something to gain by publicizing these findings. The company's Bluefire Mobile Security Suite 3.5 supports Windows Mobile, and also Palm, platforms
Related stories:
