Android Threats Pose Biggest Hurdle to Enterprise Mobility: Survey

Device theft or loss (31%) and employees leaving the organization (30%) are other concerns

The adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies by enterprises in the Middle East is accelerating, but not without ongoing security concerns. Aruba Networks conducted a survey of Middle East IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) during GISEC, the region’s only large-scale information security exhibition and conference. The survey found that nearly 60% of organizations either already support BYOD or intend to do so in the near future. Still, ongoing security concerns reflect a general lack of preparedness in managing employee mobile devices, which is holding back broader adoption.

Most interestingly, the three main security threats to enterprise mobility were perceived to be vulnerabilities associated with the Android operating system (40%), device theft or loss (31%) and employees leaving the organization (30%), all of which can be effectively mitigated by utilizing the appropriate mobile management solutions. “While the workforce is clearly eager and ready to embrace mobility, employers in the Middle East are scrambling to catch up. They need to have measures in place to secure mobile devices and applications in a systematic and scalable manner,” said Bashar Bashaireh, Regional Director, Gulf and Pakistan, Aruba Networks Middle East along with Enterprise Channels MEA. “We are seeing the emergence of a breed of workforce dubbed #GenMobile. This generation is blending work and play via their mobile devices and will further accelerate the need for IT to respond.”

Employee behavior has often resulted in security breaches for organizations. With personal computing devices entering the corporate environment, this is even more of a threat. Despite this, less than 33% of respondents said their organizations conduct employee trainings relating to enterprise mobility, thus overlooking a vital part of the BYOD success equation.

“Restricting enterprise mobility rather than offering and properly controlling it can negatively impact an organization. In the era of the #GenMobile employee, organizations that create a work environment conducive to mobility will be able to attract and retain the best talent,” said Bashar.