IT security administrators anticipate a significant increase in the number of users connecting to their network in the next year, with 54% citing specific growth in the number of remote users, according to a global survey by Check Point, the Internet security firm.
Check Point’s research shows that as organisations continue to grow in size, IT administrators are increasingly challenged with securing mobile data and complex IT environments.
They cited data loss, user management, lost or stolen equipment, and employees connecting to untrusted wireless Internet access as top concerns.
According to the survey of over 220 IT security administrators around the world including Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, 64% of organisations are concerned the growth in remote users will result in exposure to sensitive data.
Yet, as the mobile workforce has been steadily growing, 70% of respondents admit they do not use data encryption to secure their business laptops, and 87% of organisations do not encrypt USB or portable media devices, the research added.
Anticipating continued growth of the mobile workforce, 52% of organisations reported they have VPN clients on their portable PCs and 23% of them intend to deploy disk encryption, 20% encrypted USBs and 17% DLP in the coming year.
In addition, 54% of businesses are planning to migrate to Microsoft Windows 7 within the next two years; thus they are looking to unify endpoint security and make sure new systems are updated with the latest protections.
The new research also reveals organisations are using an average of nine different vendors to secure their organisation’s infrastructure from the network to the endpoint, creating difficulties in security management, particularly for businesses with 500+ employees.
Check Point vice president of endpoint products Ben Khoushy said many organisations haven’t set up an appropriate plan to secure the use of personal laptops and smartphones in the workplace.
"These vulnerabilities need to be addressed by a combination of technology and user awareness that enforce better security protections to secure data on-the-go," Khoushy said.
