Most, 92 per cent of IT departments worldwide still restrict users from accessing sensitive corporate data and resources from mobile devices.
This is according to a recent global survey of 900 IT decision makers by Gemalto, a digital security product company. Despite almost all organisations (98 per cent) having users who require mobile or remote access, 95 per cent of IT departments are facing obstacles to increased user mobility in their organisation, the primary being security concerns.
The firm’s 2015 Global Authentication and Identity Access Management Index suggests that almost all respondents (94 per cent) are concerned that their organisation will be breached or hacked as a result of credential theft or compromise. This is exacerbated by the rise in mobile endpoints within organisations, as most organisations reported to have, on average, two mobile end points per user and managing three sets of credentials per user. Additionally, on average, one out of every five (20 per cent) IT support tickets are resulting from lost or forgotten user-names and passwords.
In an effort to overcome the security challenges around mobility, the majority of IT departments (86 per cent) plan to implement two-factor authentication for access to cloud applications. About a third, 38 per cent of users use two-factor authentication, this is expected to rise to over half (51 per cent) of users using it in two years. Over half (57 per cent) already use two-factor authentication to secure external users’ access to resources, indicating the varied use of the technology. Almost all (92 per cent) respondents currently have at least one application protected by two-factor authentication, with cloud applications, web portals and VPNs among the top three apps protected.
As IT continues to look to two-factor authentication, the vast majority (91 per cent) of respondents are seeking to do this by using cloud-based authentication-as-a-service and managing their organisation’s two-factor authentication centrally.
François Lasnier, Senior Vice President for Identity Protection at Gemalto, said: “The pressure is on for IT departments to accommodate demands for greater mobility as employees crave new and flexible approaches to working. Organisations that are not open to this change are very likely to be inhibiting business productivity.
“Users are likely to do what it takes to get the job done, with or without permission, so when corporate resources are scattered across different sites, the need for strong authentication and as-a-service delivery will serve vital functions in making this happen securely. In doing so, organisations will be better placed to protect the identities of their users, without sacrificing on productivity or data protection.”
“The growing use of cloud applications and mobile devices within organisations, combined with rising threats, and the need to reduce costs, require entirely new considerations for access control. Clearly there is an immediate need for authentication and access management solutions that can help organisations solve these challenges.” Visit www.gemalto.com.
