UK firms fear BYOD security breaches

9 October 2013

Almost all of UK businesses have had, or anticipate, a security breach from implementing Bring Your Own Device strategies, according to research.

A survey of 100 UK companies with more than 1,000 employees by electronics firm Samsung found that 97 per cent said they had had a security breach in the last two years, or anticipated that they would have if they allowed workers to bring their own device.

Only one in five organisations surveyed have updated their BYOD security policy, while only eight per cent plan to, the research found.

However, the research also reported an average cost saving of £6 million from implementing BYOD policies, highlighting the dilemma for firms.

Surveyed companies employing BYOD reported a 17 per cent cut in the annual communications bill, with 47 per cent reporting an increase in employee engagement.

Graham Long, vice president, enterprise business team at Samsung, said the research highlighted clear benefits of mobile working through BYOD or 'Choose Your Own Device' policies.

But he added: "The potential to lose customer data and other confidential information through mobile devices shows how threatening BYOD could be for many organisations. It's crucial that businesses ensure that enterprise mobility strategy has a highly secure infrastructure as its foundation, together with effective and clear user policy guidelines that are implemented consistently."

The research also found that across Europe, more than a third of businesses reported actual or anticipated lost customer data as a result of security breaches through the use of personal mobile devices for work. They voiced concerns about the security impacts of personal devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops, for corporate use.

More than half of large European organisations have already implemented a formal BYOD policy, with regional implementation rates as high as 70 per cent in Italy, dropping to 43 per cent in Germany. In the UK, 56 per cent of organisations employing 1,000 people or more promote BYOD for work.

Where BYOD policies are in place, around 30 per cent of employees take advantage of it, with organisations predicting this to increase by seven per cent over the next two years.
 
Samsung conducted internet research of 490 CIOs and IT decision makers from organisations employing more than 1,000 people across Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.  The data was collected in May and June 2013.