Juniper Survey Reveals Lack of Trust in Mobile Device Security

Mobile devices are showing up in ever-increasing numbers in enterprises these days, from smartphones and ultralight notebooks to iPads and Android tablets. The bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon is also at work here, with employees bringing their own personal devices into the workplace.

This BYOD trend raises some troubling security, auditing, and compliance concerns, three issues that a recent study by Juniper Networks touches on. Dubbed the Trusted Mobility Index, Juniper says that this report includes feedback from more than 4,000 "mobile device users and IT decision-makers" from China, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

 
Some details from the Juniper Trusted Mobility Index (Source: Juniper Networks)

"Some of the biggest news [to come from the study] was that despite the number of people using mobile devices, their level of those trust in the security of those devices is really low," explained Dan Hoffman, chief mobile security evangelist at Juniper Networks. "Only 15% of the respondents indicated they had a 'great deal of confidence' in the security of those devices.

Ed Amoroso, the Chief Security Officer for AT&T, also commented on the Juniper report via a blog post entitled "4 Key IT Concerns about BYOD." In his post, Amoroso points to fragmented BYOD security approaches as a chief mobility security concern.

"The greatest challenge we see with BYOD in the enterprise is the massive distribution of security responsibility," Amoroso writes. "We know it’s an unreasonable expectation to ask every employee to be a security administrator, configure proper personal settings for protection, and remain vigilant on updating the latest malware software. It’s an assumption we, as an industry, made with PCs – and we’re still paying for it."

So what do you think about Juniper's Trusted Mobility Index? Feel free to add a comment to this blog post or contribute to the discussion on Twitter.