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MUMBAI: Security concerns are the biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of wireless and remote computing in businesses worldwide today, according to a global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Symantec Corp.
More than 60 per cent of companies are holding back on deployment, citing security concerns. Close to 47 per cent of respondents cite cost and complexity as a major obstacle to deployment.
All the while, almost one in five businesses has already experienced financial loss due to attacks via mobile data platforms.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's research highlights serious weaknesses in firms' present security arrangements for mobile devices. While 82 per cent of businesses worldwide, indicate that they see the damage from virus attacks as the same or greater on a mobile network than on a fixed network, only 26 per cent have actually assessed security risks of smart phones, compared with 81 percent of enterprises conducting security assessments for laptops.
Despite the proliferation of mobile device use in the enterprise, only nine per cent of companies have incorporated a new security architecture designed to include mobile device access.
Of the rest, ten per cent of the companies have no measures for addressing mobile security, 39 per cent are granting mobile devices access to corporate networks on an ad hoc basis and another 39 per cent are integrating mobile devices into their existing fixed network security architecture.
"It's prudent for enterprises to gain experience in mobile deployments and security before a serious attack makes it mandatory and time critical," said Paul Miller, director mobile and wireless solutions, Symantec Corp.
"In today's enterprise, there are multiple end points to account for and proper protection cannot be tackled as one-size-fits-all. While most enterprises are aware of the risks introduced with mobility, they continue to lack the appropriate security measures and policies required to protect themselves from potential threats."
The Economist Intelligence Unit, surveyed more than 240 global company executives and conducted a number of in-depth interviews with executives across a range of industries, to explore awareness of security risks associated with the widespread adoption of mobile data solutions.
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