IT security threats on the rise are nothing new, but despite increasing awareness, Australian business and consumers assume the mobile apps they use each day are safe.
New research released by mobile security company, MobileIron, shows that only seven per cent of Australian companies are enforcing OS updates and less than five per cent are using app reputation or Mobile Threat Detection software.
While an assortment of new mobile attacks have emerged that threaten business, the research shows that most simply reuse tactics which have worked before, such as Man-In-the-Middle (MITM).
"Compared to our counterparts in other countries, Australians are less vigilant when it comes to keeping devices compliant, with 64 per cent of Australian companies having at least one device out of compliance, compared to approximately 50 per cent of companies worldwide," MobileIron president and CEO, Barry Mainz, said.
Only seven per cent of Australian companies were enforcing OS updates, only slightly worse than companies worldwide, eight per cent of which were enforcing these updates.
Less than five per cent of companies in Australia deployed app reputation software, which was consistent with the same trend worldwide.
Wising up to the consumer risk
Many companies are beginning to recognise the potential threat posed by consumer mobile apps and are beginning to blacklist consumer those that they identify as threats.
The top 10 consumer unmanaged apps most often blacklisted by Australian enterprises are:
1) Angry Birds
2) Facebook
3) Dropbox
4) Google Drive
5) Box
6) Twitter
7) WhatsApp
8) Skype
9) Viber
10) Clash of Clans
“When an unmanaged app that can potentially access corporate data or bypass corporate
security measures achieves broad consumer adoption, IT departments look to blacklist it
because they can’t protect corporate data in an app they don’t manage,” Mainz added.
iOS remains dominant in the enterprise
The report also found that the global share of iOS devices grew from 78 per cent in Q4 2015 to 81 per cent in Q2 2016, while the share of Android devices remained flat at 18 per cent.
In Australia, iOS market share is larger with iOS at 84 per cent and Android at 15 per cent.
