Some workers may get MP3 players for Christmas, and memory capacities on them are larger than ever with top end MP3s able to store as much as an average laptop.
Businesses and consumers must watch out after Christmas as they bring with them a very serious security threat, claims Pointsec Mobile Technologies.
The firm reports that this year will see sales of MP3 players more than double what they were last year. The average MP3 Player with 256MB of storage capacity will now cost just £20 and at the top end, digital jukeboxes with storage of 20GB start at under £150 while a 60GB Apple iPod Video player can be bought for just £300 and can store 12 million pages of text! The average user will soon discover that they are more than music machines – they make excellent storage devices for carrying around powerpoint presentations, bank account details, Pin numbers, marketing plans and other useful information. They are also far cheaper, quicker and convenient than other devices such as laptops and personal organisers.
However, if not properly secured with access codes or encryption this could cost the consumer or corporate dearly, the firm warns. This year alone personal ID theft has cost the economy over £1.3 billion according to the Home Office.
What they say
Martin Allen, MD of Pointsec, says: "While MP3s are aimed at the consumer market for entertainment, more companies have consulted us over security fears that their ‘otherwise strong security chain’ could be weakened, by a surge in security breaches resulting from staff using MP3 players at work. Some users see them as ideal for carrying corporate information, which can be very sensitive and valuable and if lost or stolen can have serious ramifications to a company such as customers personal details and accounts getting into a competitors hands, R & D plans being exploited by an opportunist, or passwords and PIN numbers being obtained by a hacker. The company could also be liable for contravening the data protection act. If exposed all of these scenarios could cost a company their reputation, affect their share price, knock customer confidence and in the worst case cause a company to close down."
As MP3 players are pretty innocuous and still seen very much as entertainment devices, disgruntled staff or employees who are leaving can also use them to download customer databases and other valuable or competitive information without causing any suspicion, he adds.
"Companies therefore, need to wake up to this threat and control and manage their use within the business environment," adds Allen.
Companies should also be wary of the risks of staff uploading data, music and videos onto the corporate network which could introduce viruses, worms, Trojans and cause copyright infringement, the firm says. However, with MP3 players being used everyday at work to listen to Podcasts, with the most popular Podcast being the BBC 1 Breakfast Show, for consumers and employees they are here to stay. In fact, they will play a bigger role in our everyday life as more people find more uses for them such as replacing the mini tape recorder due to battery life, capacity, ease of file storage/sharing and cost. Educational publishers are also targeting them as more users play "skills enhancement" books on them.
This means in January, corporate IT departments will have to deal with a flood of mobile devices and worry about security, the firm says. Banning devices is not an issue; dealing with them is, unless you want an unworkable solution that is likely to stretch employee/employer relations.
The goal, then, the firm concludes, is not to exhaust resources trying to ban the devices, but find a way to meet and deal with the threat and at the same time uphold the safe keeping of sensitive and confidential data. Pointsec suggest that regardless of the type of storage device if it is being used within the corporate environment to store data and it leaves the organisation it must be encrypted.
