Back to work: Onslaught of personal devices could pose serious cybersecurity risk

A nationwide survey of 2,000 UK employees conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Armis, the unified asset visibility and security platform provider, analyses the new working culture and security of personal devices before the inevitable return to the office.  The results demonstrate a heightened cybersecurity threat as the majority of the UK workforce (61%) intend to return to the office with their personal devices, despite a quarter (25%) admitting to having insufficient policies in place to ensure they are properly secure. This can put an organisation at significant risk of a cybersecurity breach.


 


Other key findings:


61% of employees use their personal mobile phone and 44% use their own laptop for business purposes
Almost 60% of UK employees don’t believe their personal devices represent a threat to their organisations
Individuals in Legal, Manufacturing & Utilities, Healthcare and Retail, Catering & Leisure most likely to say that personal devices don’t represent a threat to their organisations
Those in Sales, Media & Marketing, Manufacturing & Utilities, or Travel & Transport least likely to have policies in place to secure devices used from home, making them more at risk

 


After over a year of remote working, people have become accustomed to using various connected devices while working from home, including mobile phones, laptops, fitness watches, Amazon Alexas, and even Wi-Fi connected coffee machines. Over the lockdown period there has been a massive increase in cyber-attacks on companies of all sizes, with almost 177,000 incidents in 2020 alone.


 


These are often the result of unsecured devices, as they present a vulnerable entry point for attackers to exploit and gain access to a corporate/company network. ..

Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.