Companies Naive to Portable Risks
Survey highlights UK companies' naive approach to risks posed By USB sticks, iPods, and PDAs
April 24, 2007
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LONDON -- 65% of companies needlessly put themselves at risk because they underestimate the threat posed to their network's security by USB sticks, flash drives, iPods and PDAs, research conducted among 370 UK companies shows.
The results of the survey, conducted by an independent media company, were announced today at InfoSecurity 2007 by GFI Software, an international developer of network security, content security and messaging software.
Although 49% of UK companies surveyed are concerned about data theft, 65% do not consider the use of these devices on their network to be a security threat. On the contrary, 71% are of the opinion that the use of portable storage devices is important or very important to the company's operations.
Nearly half of the respondents said they had no clue how many employees were actually using USB sticks or iPods at the office, and while 37% said it was their company's policy to monitor portable storage devices, only 22% had some form of hardware or software installed to control their usage on the network.
"The uncontrolled use of portable storage devices by employees is a very real threat to the security and stability of any business. Unfortunately, many businesses are unaware of or ignore the threat until something actually happens," Andre Muscat, director, network security products at GFI Software explained.
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