Study finds end-users still unclear on workplace mobile use policies

IT staff are failing to clearly explain and enforce mobile use policies, as more employees bring their own mobile devices into the workplace.

A recent study by security firm McAfee and Carnegie Mellon University found major gaps in the way administrators and end users understand policies around mobile use.

Some 95 per cent of businesses polled had policies in place to govern mobile device use. Yet only one third of the employees surveyed were aware of those policies.

Jamie Barnett, senior director for mobility product marketing at McAfee, told V3.co.uk that the results highlight a major disconnect, at a time when staff are increasingly looking to bring their own devices into the workplace.

The study found that 40 per cent of the companies surveyed had suffered the loss or theft of mobile devices, and half of those incidents resulted in the loss of confidential data.

Barnett noted that IT staff are also finding mobile devices harder to track, and data harder to manage, owing to privacy concerns. Both factors make policies much harder for administrators to enforce.

"You have got organisations that spent the last decade investing in making their IT infrastructure secure and compliant, and mobile devices are turning this on its ear," he said.

"IT is now being asked to secure and manage across many more platforms in a tenth of the time."

McAfee urged companies to step up efforts to inform workers on mobile policies and security procedures, which could prove easier as the survey found that employees are increasingly worried about data theft on personal devices.

Staff, meanwhile, are advised to maintain security and backup tools for their devices and to stay up to date and aware of possible mobile security threats.