Two-thirds of IT decision makers in British companies claim that their staff are bringing wearable devices into the workplace, according to a survey commissioned by the security firm Trend Micro.
This is despite the fact only a quarter claimed their workplace was rolling out or already using such devices, which include smartwatches, smart-glasses such as Google Glass, and activity trackers such as Fitbit.
Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro, said: "Any new device that enters the business environment presents a security risk, and it is inevitable that wearables will connect to corporate data, just like other smart devices.
"It is crucial that organisations think about the measures they can take to minimise the threat from wearables, before they become as omnipresent as smartphones."
His view was echoed by the survey respondents, 82% of whom think that their organisation’s IT policies would have to change to accommodate the new devices, with 43% calling for stricter measures.
In addition, three-quarters of the IT decision makers agreed that businesses should introduce wearable device policies.
Vinod Bange, partner at law firm Taylor Wessing, questioned whether punters understood what data wearables were collecting on them, adding that such information should be subject to "stringent control measures".
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"Regulators are keen that users are made fully aware of what will happen to such data and that ‘choice’ is prominently built into the use of the devices," he added.
