The document outlines 11 statistics that demonstrate the severity of security risks posed by mobile devices and the importance of mobile security for businesses. Some key points include: 92% of popular Android apps carry security or privacy risks; mobile malware increased 33% in 2013; 35% of online adults have lost or had their mobile device stolen; only 20% of emails sent were legitimate as spam increased to 76% of email traffic; and the average cost of a data breach is $5.5 million. The document emphasizes that mobile devices now pose one of the largest threats to enterprise data security and strict security policies and employee training are needed.
2. In today’s interconnected world, few things terrify CEOs and CTOs more than
electronic security (well, a breach of that security, anyway). Most of our
records, personal information, corporate information, and sensitive data exist
online or on Internet-connected hardware. Mobile, with all it’s advantages for
enterprises, actually poses one of the largest emerging threats to those
enterprises’ data security. As such, we wanted to share some statistics that
demonstrate the severity of the problem and highlight the importance of
mobile security for your business.
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3. 01
92 percent of the top 500 Android apps carry either a
security or privacy risk, according to recent data from
security firm MetaIntell
4. Even the most popular and legitimate apps carry inherent
security risks. For the most part, these applications are not
purpose-built for enterprise security necessities, which
leaves them vulnerable to talented hackers and malware.
6. If you’re the one building the app, then you can control the security parameters pretty strictly.
However, far more corporations than not allow their employees to download apps at their
discretion on the company hardware (or BYOD hardware that’s connected to the company’s
mobile infrastructure). So, you aren’t just worried about your app, but also all of the other apps
employees could be downloading on their own.
7. 03
35% of online adults worldwide have either lost or had
their mobile device stolen
8. Whenever an employee loses their phone or has it stolen,
the entire organization can become vulnerable to hacks and
malicious software. With more than one in three adults
falling prey to this, that’s a significant amount of monitoring
your IT department has to undertake
9. 04
4 in 10 American users likely to click on an unsafe link,
according to Lookout
10. It’s not enough to secure your own mobile assets; you have
to train your employees better. If 40 percent of Americans
click on unsafe links, your enterprise could easily become a
target if your employees are not paying strict attention. You
have to implement a training program as well as maintain
constant monitoring of your hardware and mobile assets.
11. 05
Researchers measured an alarming 600 percent increase in
the use of malicious web links through all vectors in 2012
12. Mobile isn’t the only place that’s getting scarier — the entire
Internet saw a 600 percent increase dangerous web links.
This will require even more failsafes on behalf of enterprise
IT departments as well as heightened vigilance from
employees.
13. 06
Malicious content was hidden within social media behind
shortened web links 32 percent of the time
14. Social media has become invaluable to many enterprises, whether through advertising reach, trend
tracking, branding, market intelligence, big data harvesting, etc. Many individuals get most of their
news through social networks by clicking on links shared by their friends and/or colleagues. In a 140
character world, url shorteners entered the picture so that you could tweet web links without killing
all your available characters. But, it is just as easy for hackers or security threats to hide behind these
shortened links as legitimate content producers. As such, it’s important that you don’t click on
everything that has an interesting title; you have to trust the source of the tweet or Facebook post
before you think about clicking on it. If the New York Times tweets something out? You’re probably
good. If someone you don’t know tweeted something “by the New York Times,” you probably
shouldn’t click on it. If that article does actually exist, you can always just go to nytimes.com and
find it that way.
15. 07
Only one in five emails sent were legitimate, as spam
increased to 76 percent of email traffic, and 92 percent
of spam included links to potentially malicious content
16. The primary tool for phishing or virus implantation on your device(s) is email. As
you can see, only 20 percent of emails sent last year were real emails intended to
go to real people containing real content. Spam was 76 percent of ALL email
traffic last year. Even more disturbing, within that spam contingency, 92 percent
of those messages included links to potentially injurious content.
That means that 70 percent of all emails sent last year contained potentially
malicious links. Always watch what you click on…
17. 08
51 percent of organizations have had data loss due to
insecure devices
18. This statistic is more concerned with mobility in particular, namely, that more than half of all
organizations have suffered data loss due to device insecurity. Whether that’s employees losing
their phones, sharing data or documents they shouldn’t have, installing bogus apps on their
phones, etc., more companies than not have now suffered data breach due to mobile devices.
As an IT department, it’s more important than ever to have strict data policy in place, complete
with training, continuing education, mobile device management services, and remote wipe
capabilities. As individual employees, it’s your responsibility to adhere to the policies set by your
IT departments in order to protect the security of your firm.
19. 09
59 percent of organizations experienced an increase in
malware infection due to insecure mobile devices
20. In addition to suffering from data loss, almost 60 percent of companies saw more
malware infections emanating from mobile devices. Mobile devices, especially
within firms that embrace BYOD or CYOD mobile policies, have become the
Achilles' heel of their security operations. Once again, it’s more important than
ever to have a strict security protocol in place to which you can hold your
employees accountable. As employees, these are very often your devices that you
own that become infected with malware. Take the necessary steps to mitigate
your risk!
22. Here’s where it gets real. For companies that suffer a full-scale data breach, the
average cost of repairing that breach is $5,500,000. While that number might not
be as meaningful for small businesses because that figure also takes into
account massive data breaches like you saw with Target or Visa, it still illustrates
how disastrous data loss can be.
That’s a number many companies cannot absorb. You cannot sleep on the
threat posed by mobile devices to your firm’s security unless you’re comfortable
risking financial losses like that.
23. 11
Cybercrime in 2011 cost consumers $110 billion
worldwide and $21 billion in the US according to
Symantec’s recently released annual Cybercrime Report.
24. Just to put the entire theme of electronic security in context, the annual cost to consumers
is staggering. $110 billion worldwide in 2011; that number is almost certainly much higher
for 2012 or 2013.
Security is one of the cornerstone issues within our increasingly interconnected world. The
more of our lives we commit online, the more we open ourselves up to threats. The more
we conduct our careers remotely or on-the-go via mobile devices, the more we open up
ourselves and our companies to data theft. This is a gigantic problem, and only by defining
a strict security policy and rigorously enforcing it can you ensure that these types of
breaches won’t happen to you.
25. About Us
At Copper Mobile, we excel at one thing above all others — building apps that make business sense. As
one of the only enterprise-specific mobile firms in the country, no other mobile solutions provider can
compete with our ability to help our clients build, deploy, and ultimately turn their mobile strategies into
real business returns.
That's who we are. That's what we do. That's what we've done hundreds of times before.
Contact us today to find out why we are more than an app developer — we're your partner for all things mobile.