Symantec has unveiled the findings of two surveys in the mobility space. The ‘Symantec State of Mobility Survey 2013’ focused on key trends in the enterprise mobility space while new insights from ‘Norton Cybercrime Report 2012’ revealed diverse trends in consumer mobility space. Shantanu Ghosh, VP and MD, India Product Operations, Symantec shared insights on security awareness vis-a-vis increased usage and dependence on mobile devices by consumers and businesses.
Indians rely heavily on their devices, with 68% respondents revealing that they are addicted to them and 43% sharing that their mobile device is amongst the top two things they would save from a fire.
However, the Symantec State of Mobility Survey 2013 that revealed that 72% of Indian businesses have faced mobility incidents in the past 12 months due to malware infections, spam incidents, exposures of information, breach of information due to lost/stolen devices and phishing/social engineering instances. Thirty-seven percent of Indian businesses have faced revenue loss due to mobility mishaps, with 1 in 3 businesses facing direct financial loss in the past 1 year. With such high risks involved, Indian businesses are beginning to see value in implementing security measures. In fact, 45% enterprises have ensured that mobile devices that connect to the network have proper safeguards installed and 40% restrict mobile device usage through HR enforcement, and 38% use technology controls to mitigate the risks.
Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD), in particular, is a source of contention for businesses. In this scenario, channel partners are in a unique position to help overcome the challenges BYOD presents by offering a complete set of solutions that provide organizations with the high level of oversight needed when dealing with employee-owned devices.
