Survey Says... BYOD Here to Stay

According to the Ovum 2013 multi-market BYOX (bring-your-own-anything) employee study, BYOD is here to stay. The global industry analyst firm encourages CIOs to respond with a clear strategy, warning business leaders to "respond and adapt now to this change in employee behavior, rather than being steamrollered by it."

The survey of 4,371 consumers across 19 countries revealed that:

• corporate BYOD activity by full-time employees (FTEs) remained steady at almost 60% over the past two years
• the BYOX phenomenon shows no signs of disappearing, as nearly 70% of employees who own a smartphone or tablet choose to use it to access corporate data
• with personal tablet ownership by FTEs rising from 28.4% to 44.5% over the last 12 months, more businesses will see these devices on their networks
• 67.8% of smartphone-owning employees bring their own smartphone to work, and 15.4% of these do so without the IT department's knowledge and 20.9% do so in spite of an anti-BYOD policy.

Many CIOs understand the BYOD trend and its inevitability, but they also are aware that malware, policy violations, data loss, as well as unsupported and insecure mobile applications are creating new security risks. Mobile security has become a top priority for businesses that are implementing BYOD programs, delivering mobile applications to customers and users, or using mobile payment systems that include point-of-sale systems. This infographic illustrates the high security costs of unmanaged and unfettered BYOD.

Trustwave recently launched a mobile security practice designed to help businesses embrace mobility and BYOD programs while maintaining compliance, managing emerging security risks and protecting corporate networks and data. As part of the practice, Trustwave offers enterprise compliance and risk services to address the challenges and complexities of mobility, as well as an integrated, technology suite aimed at protecting networks, data, and devices from malware and data loss. Learn more about Trustwave solutions for mobile security.