UAE has ranked fifth among the ‘most at risk’ regions in Aruba Networks’s Global Mobile Security Threat Study.

The ‘Securing #GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk?’ study showed that highly regulated and tech savvy industries, higher earning males and emerging markets pose the greatest risk to enterprise data security.

It has called for businesses in the UAE to take action as a new mobile security risk report reveals that businesses are ill prepared for the high-risk, high-growth mindset of the #GenMobile workforce, creating alarming disparity around security practices in the corporate world.

The chasm that is exposed between age, gender, income level, industry and geographic location has a direct effect on the security of corporate data, it said.

The study showed that three key trends highlight how #GenMobile is paving the way for risk-prone behaviour in the workforce – which is both good and bad for business.

About 62 per cent share their work and personal devices with others regularly, with 14 per cent of employees with no passwords on devices and 11 per cent stating they do not have security measures in place so that they can share more easily.

Security ranks fifth behind brand and operating system when #GenMobile is making buying decisions for new devices. Nearly 86 per cent assume their IT departments will keep them protected; however, nearly 73 per cent have lost data due to the misuse of a mobile device.

More than 58 per cent of workers today said they are willing to disobey their boss to get something done, another 56 per cent said that mobile technologies enable them to be more productive and engaged, and over 79 per cent are willing to perform self-service IT.

Ben Gibson, chief marketing officer, said: “#GenMobile workers are flexible, transparent and collaborative, willing to take action to drive productivity and business growth. That said, these employees are also far more willing to share company data, and are notably oblivious towards security.”

However, as this high-risk culture enters the enterprise, the report found an alarming level of disparity among industries, individuals and countries when it comes to the treatment of mobile devices and data.

The study suggested that businesses in the UAE may not be prepared for what lies ahead with over a third (37 per cent) not having any type of basic mobile security policy in place.

Aruba has contended that if businesses strategically measure and intelligently manage their security, the more flexible, open methods of working and information exchange that #GenMobile workers bring can drive new business innovation.

Ammar Enaya, general manager, said: “Organisations in UAE should strive to build a secure and operational framework for all workers, rather than stifle them. These trends underline that #GenMobile employees continue to be a growing part of the everyday workforce, but they also bring with them some risky behaviours.

“In a contemporary connected world, firms need to nurture creativity, while at the same time minimize the risk of data and information loss. As a result, employers need to take an adaptive trust approach to connectivity and data security, identifying individual worker preferences that factor multiple layers of contextual information in order to build secure infrastructures around them.”

Using global data, Aruba has developed an online Security Risk Index tool to allow organisations to benchmark their mobile security risk levels relative to organisations in their country and industry.  - TradeArabia News Service