Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Smartphones a security risk - report

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 03:32:38 -0500

Smartphones a security risk - report

As advances in personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smart cellphones
have made them as powerful as desktop computers, employees are
purchasing them in greater numbers and connecting them to their
employers' computer systems. According to a survey conducted by TNS NFO
(formerly NFO WorldGroup), 86% of employers knowingly permit these
employee mobile devices, yet nearly the same number - 83.6% of employers
- have failed to set usage guidelines for these devices, leaving their
computer systems vulnerable to malicious code attacks and information
theft.

Employees are not any more aware than their employers of the threat
their mobile devices pose to computer systems. The survey also found
that 74.6% of employees that use personal mobile devices either do not
have, or do not know whether they have, any security protection on their
PDAs or smart phones.

"Businesses worry a lot today about front-end attacks from hackers and
how to stop them," said Tom Goodman, vice president of operations for
Bluefire Security Technologies, the firm that commissioned the survey.
"However, they have not paid very much attention to the equally
dangerous back-end threat coming from employees connecting their
high-powered handheld devices to their enterprise networks."

Serious risk exists when an employee places a mobile device into an in-
office cradle, because the device is recognized by the company network
as a trusted user and given clearance to access mission-critical
information behind the network security protection. A business
competitor could then gain free access to a company's entire database,
and a sophisticated hacker could enter a corporate network through the
device and use it to plant a computer program that would send
information back to the source, undetected for an extended period of
time.

The survey polled users of handheld devices from a weighted sample of
Internet-connected households. In addition to the findings regarding the
business use of employee handhelds, the study also found that consumers
store vulnerable confidential information on their devices.

Only 9.5% of respondents, however, thought they would be embarrassed if
someone stole any of this confidential information and posted it on the
Internet.

"Consumers are clearly storing personal information considered private
on their mobile devices, while employees using these devices for
business are very likely storing data that their employers would regard
as confidential," said Goodman. "Implementing a proactive mobile
security strategy for employee-owned devices can not only protect a
corporation from potential security problems, but it will also provide a
platform for broader mobile enterprise planning. By centrally managing
what these devices can access, store and process, an organization can
safely and effectively manage its mobile workforce."

Posted to the site on 30-Mar-04

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/10936.shtml

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