Study: Mobility against Security
21 March 2012
According to a research called “The Impact of Mobile Devices on Information Security” published by Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd., the number of mobile devices connected to corporate networks doubled in 2010-2011. Half of these devices contain confidential information.
The management of 70% of the surveyed companies are confident that it is the use of mobile devices that results in the increased number of data leaks. This mostly happens when devices containing corporate emails (80% of cases), client databases (around 50%) and corporate passwords (around 40%) get lost or stolen.
Corporate users are actively embracing mobile devices and services, thus creating a lot of problems for IT experts responsible for the security of corporate data. Modern standards do not cover new security threads, and yet it’s not reasonable to completely stop using mobile devices, since they give users a number of advantages that boost their performance and provide them with quick and convenient mobile access to corporate resources.
Check Point report highlights:
- In 94% of companies, the number of mobile devices connected to corporate networks has increased.
- In 78% of companies, their number has more than doubled over the past two years.
- The most popular mobile platforms used in corporate networks are:
- Apple (30%)
- BlackBerry (29%)
- Android (21%)
- 43% of companies believe that Android-based devices pose a serious threat to their information security.
- The key threats undermining information security are:
- Lack of knowledge in the information security field among corporate users (over 70%).
- Use of mobile devices for web browsing (61%)
- Use of unprotected wireless connections (59%)
- Device loss of theft (58%)
- Downloading of malicious software to mobile devices (57%).

Reuters reports that charges have been pressed by the US government against Bo Zhang, a 32-year-old China-born programmer. He is accused of illegally copying the source code of government-owned software that cost $9.5 mln to develop, to an external hard drive.
Chaos Computer Club (CCC), a Germany-based hacker group, published a proof of the use of spyware by the government, which resulted in a serious scandal on the highest level.
AirPatrol has presented a new wireless security technology called ZoneDefense. This system uses a new unique approach to the prevention of corporate data leaks.
According to a research conducted by the Internet Development Fund, children in Europe and the NIS states usually know more about the Internet than their parents do.
Karsten Nohl, a German network security and cryptography expert, announced the discovery of a relatively simple technique of intercepting and decrypting data transmitted over the GPRS protocol.
Data mining (deep data analysis) — a collective term used for a set of methods for detecting previously unknown, unusual, interpretable and practically useful knowledge in arrays of data that can be used for making decisions in various fields of human activities.
A scandal ignited on the web today as it turned out that Ant Video Downloader and Player, a Firefox and Internet Explorer plugin for downloading videos, spied on its users.
Symantec (a leading information security software development company) is warning that one of the most popular networks in the world, Facebook.com, may have been leaking personal information for several years.