This year’s annual DeviceWall Security Attitudes survey has shown that more mobile gadgets than ever are now finding their way into the workplace - with 70% of computer users now connecting some form of portable storage to their company PC on a daily basis.
The most common device to be connected to the network was the USB drive - used by 38 per cent of respondents. Also popular were PDAs (21 per cent), digital cameras (15 per cent), mobile phones (14 per cent) and MP3 players (7 per cent).
The company behind the research, Centennial Software, warns of the dangers associated with uncontrolled use of these devices in the office: “USB drives are now available with 64 GB of memory more than your average laptop holds which could be used by a disgruntled employee to download an entire customer database or over two million Word documents,” said Andy Burton, CEO at Centennial. “As flexible working becomes more widespread, so will these devices as they can play an essential part in effective business so its vital that companies address this now.”
Following data theft news in the last week from the Red Cross and Veterans’ Association, the DeviceWall research clearly shows that portable storage carries a number of serious risks to the organization.
