How can IT professionals address enterprise mobile security issues?

Today, studies indicate that employees use three or more different devices for work on a daily basis. With the increased demand for mobile usage in the workplace, however, enterprise mobile security issues are evidently on the rise.

The state of mobile in the enterprise

By 2020, studies predict that 70% of the world’s population will own a smartphone and more than 1.2 billion tablets will be in use. According to a whitepaper from Gemalto, many IT teams are now "scrambling to get enterprise mobile security in line with current corporate standards."

In order to assess how IT professionals are addressing this increased demand, Gemalto polled 900 IT decision makers. Overall, their organisations spanned a variety of sectors and had at least 250 employees.

Fear of data breaches

According to the Gemalto Data Breach Index, 2015 saw 700 million lost or stolen data records. Specifically, theft of identities and personal information accounted for 53% of these data breaches.

As a result, 94% of the survey's respondents cited were concerned that their organisations will suffer from a breach or hack due to credential theft or compromise. The report observes that the rise in mobile endpoints within organisations has exacerbated these anxieties, however.

The power of two-factor authentication

If enterprises are to progress towards more secure authentication solutions, they must start thinking beyond passwords. As multi-factor solutions operate independently of passwords, these tools are the only way to protect corporate networks from breaches connected to compromised credentials.

In the AIM index, 95% of respondents said that two-factor authentication (2FA) can help their organisation comply with data protection regulations and pass security audits. The polled IT professionals also confirmed that 2FA is becoming increasingly common.

92% used 2FA for at least one application, while 86% secured at least one VPN app with 2FA. 79% of respondents also secured at least one VDI app with 2FA and 84% secured at least one Web Portal.

In addition to this, 83% secured at least one cloud app using 2FA. Finally, 52% of respondents saw the central management of 2FA as "conducive to reducing shadow IT in their organisation."

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